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Clamor 


-'   The  ReyQJution  of  Everyday  Life 


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The  Weakerthans  I  Food  Not  Bombs 

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November/December  2004  •  Issue  29 


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)mm0  ntrOa  qurng : 

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CONSULTING  EDITOR 

POLITICS  EDITORS 

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&  Amanda  Luker 

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REVIEW  EDITOR 

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ECONOMICS  EDITOR 

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PROOFREADERS 

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MEDIA  EDITOR 

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from  your  editors 

Community  is  one  of  those  words  we  use  all  ttie  time  without  really  thinking  about  it.  Community  orga- 
nizing. Community  media.  "The  local  community."  We  know  it's  good,  but  what  else  do  we  really  know? 
So  we  asked  ourselves,  our  readers,  and  our  contributors  —  our  community  —  to  examine  the  ideal, 
feel,  and  sense  of  community  —  what  it  is,  what  it  should  be,  and  what  we  want  it  to  be.  This  issue  is 
also  about  reclaiming  the  word  and  idea  of  community  for  ourselves.  All  too  often  ideas  of  "community" 
are  thrown  around  by  corporations  like  Saturn  and  Wal-Mart  who,  despite  their  million-dollar  ad  cam- 
paign claims,  haven't  the  slightest  interest  in  building  cooperative  connections  between  people. 

The  answers  here  show  how  differently  people  understand  it.  From  helping  displaced  people  retain  a 
sense  of  connection  and  dignity  like  Nah  We  Yone(p.  32),  to  strengthening  the  labor  union  movement 
at  Brown  University  (p.  12),  to  changing  the  way  we  grow,  buy,  and  sell  food  (p.  8).  we've  only  been  able 
to  scratch  the  surface  of  where  and  how  connections  are  built  in  our  everyday  lives. 

Community  building  inherently  involves  supporting  one  another  in  our  endeavors.  So  it  seems  timely 
that  we  chose  this  issue  introduce  a  new  regular  feature  of  C/a/nor  called  "murmurs."  Murmurs  will 
feature  reviews  of  print,  audio,  and  video/dvd  projects  that  we  think  are  worth  checking  out.  This  sec- 
tion allow  us  to  expand  an  element  that  so  many  readers  have  told  us  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  things 
Clamor  \\as  to  offer.  We  hope  you  agree. 

Finally,  this  issue  is  going  to  press  before  the  presidential  election.  While  it's  not  clear  who  will  win 
that  contest,  it  is  clear  that  many  of  our  struggles  will  continue  no  matter  who  is  elected.  The  fights  for 
dignity,  strength,  and  autonomy  for  individuals  and  communities  seem  more  urgent  now  than  ever.  Our 
role  at  Clamor  \s  to  support  you  in  your  work  by  providing  a  forum  to  celebrate  victories,  share  ideas 
and  inspiration,  and  remind  you  that  another  world  is  possible. 

Thank  you  for  everything  you  do  to  contribute  to  your  community  and  to  make  the  world  a  better  place. 

And  thanks  for  reading  ClamoA 


^(MaJi\(^ 


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iiiiflMi^v<riiii 

Clamor's  mission  is  to  provide  a  media  outlet  that  reflects  the  reality  of  alternative  politics  and  culture  in  a  format 
that  IS  accessible  to  people  from  a  variety  of  backgrounds.  C/amof  exists  to  fill  the  voids  left  by  mainstream  media. 
We  recognize  and  celebrate  the  fact  that  each  of  us  can  and  should  participate  in  media,  politics,  and  culture.  We 
publish  vyriting  and  art  that  exemplify  the  value  we  place  on  autonomy,  creativity,  exploration,  and  cooperation. 
Clamor \$  an  advocate  of  progressive  social  ctiange  through  active  creation  of  political  and  cultural  alternatives. 


@ 


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Number  29  I  November/December  2004 


p.  28 


ECONOMICS 

8  Doing  What  Comes  Naturally  by  Gordon  Edgar 

11  Democracy  at  Work  by  Burt  Beriowe 

13  A  Right  Not  Yet  Secure  by  Peter  Ian  Asen 

15  A  Call  for  Action  from  Corporate  U.  by  Boone  Shear 

16  Food  Not  Bombs  Serves  Up  Victory  by  Lara  Stewart  and  Charles  Suggs 

POLITICS 

18  Legacies  of  Resistance  by  Jim  Straub 
21  Santa  Anita  La  Union  by  Caitiin  Benedetto 

24  Up  a  River  by  Charles  Winfrey 

25  Unlikely  Bedfellows  by  Nathan  Berg 

prnoii: 

28  Seeds  of  Power  by  Jennifer  Vandenplas 

31  A  Room  of  Their  Own  by  sarah  contrary 

32  A  Community  of  Healing  by  Robert  Hirschfield 

34  The  Icarus  Project  by  Timothy  Kelly 

35  Finger  on  the  Pulse  by  Kari  Lydersen 

CULTURE 

38  In  Search  of  The  Living  Buddha  by  Michelle  Chen 

41  Functional  Inequity  by  Yolanda  Best 

43  John  K.  Samson:  Authenticity  in  Distortion  by  George  B  Sanchez 

45  Platform  Projects  by  Daniel  Tucker 

MEDIA 

48  The  Battle  of  the  Frame  by  Jon  R.  Pike 

51  Dancing  with  the  Devil  by  Peter  Wirth 

53  The  Indypendent  SeWs  Out?  by  Dave  Arenas 

54  What  is  Indymedia?  by  Danielle  Chynoweth 

55  Countdown  to  Putsch  by  Sara  Tretter 

SEX  &  GENDER 

58  Unlikely  Communities  by  Victoria  Law 

81  Reel  Democracy  by  Jennie  Rose 

82  Critical  mASS  byTeriDanai 
84  Think  Pink!  by  Justin  Carter 

MURMURS 

66  What  We're  Talking  About...  g. 

i 

o 

THE  LAST  PAGE  | 

74  Community  in  the  Jails  by  Sarah  Palmer  g 


Please  address  letters  to  letters@clamormagazine.org 

or  write  us  at  PO  Box  20128  Toledo,  OH  43610 

Letters  may  be  edited  for  length. 

Not  all  letters  received  will  be  printed. 


COSBY-FYINGHIPHOP? 

I  know  that  activist  have  been  trying  to  move  beyond 
punk  rock,  but  when  I  read  some  of  the  recent  ar- 
ticles you  published  about  other  music  scenes  and 
subcultures  (hip-hop  in  particular),  I  wonder  what 
the  point  is.  Maybe  it's  not  punk-rock  but  the  people 
in  the  last  two  articles  by  j-love  are  just  the  same 
overly  educated,  spacey,  hippy  activist  types  that 
you  meet  all  over  the  activist  subculture.  Come  on! 
They're  talking  about  taking  drugs  to  have  spiritual 
experiences  and  talking  to  trees.  What's  the  point 
of  looking  at  other  subcultures  if  you're  just  gonna 
talk  to  the  same  generic  types  of  people  who  try  too 
hard  to  sound  like  they're  all  knowing  and  in  touch 
with  everything? 

Now  I'll  admit  I'm  not  a  huge  hip-hop  fan,  but 
I've  been  around  it  enough  to  know  that  it's  like  a  lot 
of  other  subculture 's  out  there.  It  came  from  work- 
ing class  roots  and  reflected  on  the  harsh  realities 
of  life  from  a  class  perspective.  Hip-hop  shares  with 
it  a  lot  of  the  good  things  about  country,  and  hard- 
core/punk. Move's  articles  don't  acknowledge  this. 
Class  conflict  just  gets  blocked  out  with  the  middle 
class  face  of  a  bunch  of  young  urban,  educated 
professionals.  In  other  words,  I  have  never  seen  a 
picture  of  hip-hop  as  Bill  Cosbied  up  as  this. 

Joe  Levasseur 
Philadelphia,  PA 


CHILDFREE?  FREE,  CHILD! 

I  had  strong  reactions  to  Amy  Gustin's  "Childfree," 
Clamor  Communique  #48. 

Ms.  Gustin  makes  good  points  about  limited 
resources  being  taxed  by  overpopulation.  Yes,  we  in 
industrialized  nations  abuse  and  overuse  nearly  ev- 
ery resource  available;  no  news  there.  I  was  amused 
by  her  story  about  fleeing  her  urban  environment  for 
rural  northern  California.  I'm  from  there;  my  family 
left,  in  part,  because  the  area  became  too  crowded 
with  invaders  like  Ms.  Gustin.  For  me,  this  begs 
the  question;  how  can  she  approve  of  her  parents' 
choice  to  have  her  (which,  since  she  hasn't  killed 
herself  in  protest,  I  assume  she  must),  and  not  of 
the  same  choice  made  by  anyone  else? 

She  writes  from  a  position  of  privilege,  which 
she  would  deny  others.  I  agree  that  living  child-free 
is  a  wonderful  option  for  any  human  being,  and  en- 
courage anyone  who  doesn't  want  children  to  not 
have  them.  Like  the  sappy  bumper  sticker  says,  a 
world  of  wanted  children  would  make  a  world  of  dif- 
ference. Still,  I  urge  Ms.  Gustin  to  keep  her  moralis- 
tic judgments  about  our  purported  motivations  for 
having  children  to  herself;  she  may  "not  view  the 


decision  to  bring  more  humans  into  existence  in 
such  a  benign  light,"  but  the  straw  man  justifica- 
tions she  proposes- hardly  serve  to  fully  explain  the 
very  human  desire  to  procreate.  Such  "holier  than 
thou"  moralizing  is  reminiscent  of  other  fundamen- 
talisms, and  just  as  worthless. 

Ms.  Gustin  makes  another  wild  generalization, 
which  reveals  the  limitations  of  her  polarized  view- 
point; "Raising  a  child  reproduces  your  culture."  She 
goes  on  to  say  that,  no  matter  what  ideas  we  try  to 
instill  in  children,  they're  still  part  of  our  big  bad 
destructive  culture,  and  she  decries  giving  that  cul- 
ture a  "new  recruit."  Apparently,  we  are  powerless  to 
change  anything. 

Such  fatalism  is  disturbing.  Looking  to  the 
future,  would  we  rather  have  Clamor  readers  repro- 
ducing those  ideas  and  principles  we  (to  greater  or 
lesser  degrees)  share,  or  Fox  News  watchers  repro- 
ducing theirs?  If  we  abandon  the  future  to  children 
raised  specifically  in  support  of  that  destructive  he- 
gemonic culture,  why  not  give  up  now,  head  down  to 
the  mall  and  get  a  job  at  McDonald's? 

Of  course,  Ms.  Gustin  is  partially  right;  chil- 
dren do  adopt  those  aspects  of  our  culture(s!)  which 
we  model  for  them.  My  son  is  a  witty  little  vegetar- 
ian who  enjoys  gardening,  playing  guitar,  ice  hockey, 
building  models,  cooking,  dancing  and  reading  out 
loud.  He  thinks  violent  video  games  are  silly,  doesn't 
like  to  waste  food,  thinks  solar  energy  is  pretty  cool, 
loves  Michael  Franti  of  Spearhead,  and  knows  that 
no  matter  what  you  do  around  some  people,  they'll 
still  be  jerks. 

I  think  these  are  fine  attitudes  to  reproduce 
in  our  shared  culture.  If  my  son  didn't  exist,  if  we'd 
thrust  our  pessimistic  heads  in  the  sand  with  the 
author  and  said  "It's  really  tough  to  raise  a  child  who 
can  improve  our  culture  and  the  world  in  general,  so 
let's  just  not  try,"  there  would  be  one  less  voice  for 
such  pursuits  and  attitudes  in  the  future.  Her  bleak 
prognostications  about  misuse  of  resources  would 
become  a  self-fulfilling  prophecy. 

Her  points  about  the  additional  freedoms 
available  to  those  without  children,  and  the  chal- 
lenge offered  to  societally-programmed  and  sanc- 
tioned motherhood,  are  well  taken  Having  children 
IS  definitely  not  for  everyone,  but  it's  also  not  neces- 
sarily evil,  wasteful,  or  destructive  to  do  so. 

A  proud  parent  of  a  kid  who  in  all  likelihood  will  be 
cooler  than  me. 
Bruce  Bullis 
San  Jose,  CA 


WE  SUBSCRIBE  TO  WHAT! 

In  response  to  the  "Stop  Bust)"  issue 
On  1-8-2003  I  sent  you  check  no.  ####  for  your 
magazine.  I  am  really  so  very  sorry.  That  magazine  is 
the  most  disgusting  thing  I've  seen  in  a  long  time. 
This  is  a  public  office  that  deals  with  children  -  a 
state  government  office.  We'll  burn  the  ones  we  have 
-  don't  send  any  more.  You  are  a  group  of  hate  pub- 
lishers. 

Florence  E  Dilallo 

Friends  of  Homer  Health  Center 

Homer,  AK 


PROBLEM  IS  BIGGER  THAN  BUSH 

I  can  understand  why  you  had  cancellations  due  to 
your  "Stop  Bush  "  Issue  (ed.  see  above).  In  the  eyes 
of  many  Bush  has  become  sort  of  an  annoyance  in 
perspective  —  compared  to  the  massive  rotting  and 
now  centuries  old  infrastructure  of  U.  S.  politics,  not 
new  and  not  progressive  —  that  allowed  him  into 
power.  Andrew  Jackson  faced  similar  challenges 
to  his  administration  did  he  not?  Perhaps  many 
Americans  are  beginning  to  realize  that  the  whole 
"Stop  Bush "  thing  is  just  part  of  the  cult-of-per- 
sonality  trend  that  characterizes,  sadly,  these  U.  S. 
presidential  elections  —  and  yet  leaves  us  with  the 
same  nagging  social  ills  administration  after  bor- 
ing administration.  Perhaps  some  of  your  readers 
—  if  not  the  one  who  cancelled  his  or  her  subscrip- 
tion —  are  beginning  to  see  that  the  problems  are 
deeper  than  stopping  one  man.  Perhaps  they  are 
aware  of  the  hand  of  conspiracy  that  is  being  played 
as  two  graduates  from  the  Skull  and  Bones  orga- 
nization vie  for  the  top  spot  in  U.  S.  politics  —  as 
if  they  were  pretending  to  have  different  moral 
agendas  —  just  to  create  the  illusion  of  contrast  to 
placate  American  voters.  What  is  really  developing 
IS  the  fact  that  Constitutional  Republic,  a  concept 
as  hoary  and  situated  as  the  place  of  Plato  in  the 
philosophical  tomes  of  Western  political  thought, 
has  yet  to  really  allow  Democracy  to  happen  while 
screaming  that  that  is  in  fact  what  it  is  —  not  de- 
mocracy but  Constitutional  Republic.  It's  a  deeper 
issue  —  what  IS  democracy,  in  a  world  where  people 
globally  celebrate  victories  for  democracy  in  places 
named  "Republic  of—"  and  two  similar  candidates 
with  backgrounds  so  similar  that  people  have  gen- 
erally brushed  over  their  fellowship  in  the  Skull  and 
Bones  out  of  fear?  Respect? 

Mikal  Howard 
Philadelphia,  PA 

Correction:  Contributor  Erik  Lundegaard's  name  was  spelled  incorrectly  in  tiK  Sep/Oct  2004  issue. 


The  revolution  won't  be  televised,  but  you  can  read 
about  It.  Books  for  a  better  world,  by  Mike  Palacek, 
former  federal  prisoner,  congressional  candidate, 
newspaper  reporter  Please  visit:  iowapeace.com. 

Radio!  Radio!  The  Vinyl  Hours  with  DJ  Tina  Bold 
from  7  to  9pm  (PST)  every  Monday  on  KUCR  88.3fm 
(Riverside,  CA),  or  go  to  www.kucrorg  to  hear  a  live- 
stream  version.  Send  demos  to:  KUCR  Radio  c/o 
Tina  Bold,  University  of  Ca.  Riverside,  Riverside,  CA 
92521 

CALL  FOR  PAPERS:  The  People's  Papers  Project  is 
looking  for  submissions  of  undergraduate  or  gradu- 
ate thesis  that  have  been  written  by  people  who  jug- 
gle both  activism  and  academia  for  consideration  in 
our  series,  the  People's  Papers  Project.  The  People's 
Papers  Project  is  the  brainchild  of  Jason  Kucsma 
(Clamor  Magazine)  and  Ailecia  Ruscin  (Alabama 
GrrrI).  Both  Jason  and  Ailecia  self-published  their 
American  studies  master's  theses  so  that  they  could 
share  their  academic  labor  with  their  activist  com- 
munities. We  are  looking  for  more  to  publish  in  this 
continuing  series,  email  ppp@clamormagazine.org. 

EXPLORE  COMMON  SENSE  POLITICS!  Newtopia  Mag- 
azine IS  a  modern  sociological-culture  review  that 
examines  how  our  Politics  and  Policies  are  reflected 
in  our  Arts,  Government,  and  Humanities.  Visit  and 
subscribe  online  at  www.newtopiamagazine.net. 

THINK  PINK!  Chicago's  only  all  music  radio  show  for 
the  queer  community,  Think  Pink  focuses  on  music 
made  by  the  gay/lesbian/bi/transgendered  commu- 
nity but  will  also  include  music  with  queer  themes 
and  music  targeting  the  queer  audience.  Listen  at 
88.7  FM  or  online  Wednesdays  from  6:30-8:00pm 
(CST)  at  www.wluw.org. 

SUBMIT  NOW  TO  ROOFTOP  FILMS!  Rooftop  Films  is 
a  non-profit  him  festival  and  production  collective 
that  supports,  creates,  promotes,  and  shows  dar- 
ing short  films  worldwide  and  in  a  weekly  summer 
rooftop  him  festival.  ROOFTOP  FILMS  is  currently 
accepting  films  for  the  9th  annual  Rooftop  Films 
Summer  Series,  Summer  Series  2005.  For  more  info: 
www.rooftophlms.com/submit.html. 

FIRE  ON  THE  PRAIRIE:  a  monthly  show  featuring 
interviews  with  progressive  writers  and  thinkers, 
brought  to  you  by  In  These  Times  magazine.  Listen  to 
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above:  one  of  Rainbow  s  workers  (and  owners!)  stocks  produce  —  most  of  wtiicti  is  organic 


Doing  What  Comes 


s 

o 


San  Francisco's  Rainbow  Grocery  Cooperative 

nears  its  30th  Anniversary  providing  natural, 

organic  foods  in  an  environment  owned  and 

operated  by  its  workers. 


word   Gordon  Edgar 
photos  Sarah  Pyle 


Food  and  its  distribution  have  been  the  spark  for  more  riots, 
revolutions,  and  political  movements  than  anything  else 
you  can  name.  Still,  in  a  rich  country  such  as  ours,  food  can 
ebb  and  flow  as  a  political  issue.  The  mid-1970s,  however,  was 
a  time  when  food  was  in  the  forefront  of  many  people's  political 
work.  Rainbow  Grocery  Cooperative  started  as  part  of  an  ambi- 
tious food  system  in  1975  that  sought  to  incorporate  collective 
stores,  producers,  and  distributors  into  one  big  counter-cultural 
network  that  would  destroy  corporate  agribusiness  by  providing 
healthier,  less  processed,  cheaper  food  alternatives. 

While  almost  all  of  the  food  collectives  that  made  up  that 
network  have  collapsed  over  the  last  30  years.  Rainbow  has  sur- 
vived, becoming  the  largest  natural  foods  store  in  the  San  Fran- 
cisco Bay  Area.  It  has  gone  from  an  all-volunteer  staff  to  a  200- 
person  worker  cooperative,  still  dealing  with  the  ongoing  issues 
of  how  to  best  support  its  community  —  and  who  their  commu- 
nity actually  is. 


Economic  Power 

As  a  worker  cooperative  —  rather  than  a 
consumer  cooperative  —  Rainbow's  workers 
make  all  the  decisions.  There  are  no  commu- 
nity "members."  There  are  also  no  managers. 
Big  decisions  are  made  by  the  worker  mem- 
bership as  a  whole  or  by  the  worker-elected 
Board  of  Directors.  Day-to-day  decisions  are 
made  by  individual  departments,  which  over- 
see specific  areas  of  the  store  like  produce, 
vitamins,  cashiering,  and  maintenance. 

The  first  way  that  many  Rainbow  work- 
ers identify  their  coop  as  serving  the  commu- 
nity is  by  creating  stable  jobs. 

"I  appreciate  having  a  living  wage, 
amazing  health  insurance  for  myself  and  my 
partner,  and  the  opportunity  to  be  involved  in 
the  direction  and  development  of  my  busi- 
ness," said  Francine  Madrid,  a  Rainbow 
worker-owner  recently  elected  to  the  store's 
donation  committee. 

"Some  cooperatives  see  their  basic  mis- 
sion as  returning  the  profits  extracted  from 
labor  to  those  who  created  them.  This  is  very 
important,  as  traditionally  secure  working- 
class  jobs  are  being  exported  beyond  the  US's 
borders,"  says  Joan  S.M.  Meyers,  a  Ph.D. 
candidate  in  sociology  who  studies  democrat- 
ic workplaces.  "In  theory,  worker-ownership 
of  businesses  can  create  stable,  well-paying 
jobs  that  allow  people  to  return  to  their  com- 
munities with  the  economic  means  to  enjoy 
them  —  money  to  pay  rent,  buy  food  and 
entertainment,  even  buy  houses  —  without 
professional  degrees  or  inherited  wealth." 

The  way  that  Rainbow  operates  also 
makes  for  good  jobs,  not  just  stable  ones. 
Sarah  Jarmon,  a  worker-owner  who  has  also 


served  on  the  donations  and  grants  commit- 
tees says,  "I  appreciate  that  Rainbow  has  been 
able  to  remain  as  a  democratic  workplace, 
even  as  the  store  expands  and  the  economic 
climate  is  not  friendly  to  independent  grocery 
stores." 

Who  Gets  Served? 

Outside  of  the  economic  benefits  to  their 
worker-owners,  the  other  huge  benefit  of 
coops  is  the  goods  or  services  that  they  physi- 
cally provide  to  the  community. 

The  biggest  and  most  obvious  example 
of  Rainbow 's  support  for  the  larger  commu- 
nity is  providing  natural  food,  supplements, 
and  health  information  to  the  Bay  Area.  In 
addition  to  running  the  grocery.  Rainbow 
workers  were  involved  with  helping  set  the 
original  California  state  organic  standards  in 
the  'SOs  and  have  been  committed  to  helping 
small  and  local  farmers  and  producers  sur- 
vive in  an  era  that  is  hostile  to  their  existence. 
All  of  this  is  needed  to  help  bring  fresh  and 
healthy  food  to  an  urban  population. 

Of  course.  Rainbow  Grocery's  customer 
base  and  its  worker-owner  makeup  are  di- 
rectly tied  to  the  question  of  whom  within  the 
"larger  community"  all  these  elTorts  serve.  As 
w  ith  many  other  food-based  coops  around  the 
country.  Rainbow's  original  base  of  custom- 
ers and  workers  tended  to  be  counter-cultural 
—  and  not  reflective  of  the  demographics  of 
the  city  or  even  surrounding  the  neighbor- 
hood as  a  whole.  In  recent  years,  effort  has 
been  made  to  change  this,  by  developing  an 
internal  anti-oppression  training  and  by  hir- 
ing more  people  of  color.  These  steps  have 
brought  in  some  new  customers,  expanding 


the  number  of  people  who  benefit  from  Rain- 
bow's distribution  of  good  food.  They  have 
also  had  a  significant  effect  on  Rainbow's 
support  for  organizations  that  were  not  pre- 
viously as  closely  linked  with  organic  foods 
and  worker  coops. 

"As  our  work  force  gets  more  culturally 
diverse,  those  people  tend  to  want  to  reach 
out  to  their  particular  communities.  I  feel  like 
I  have  the  opportimity  and  responsibility  to 
give  financial  assistance  to  the  communities 
I  identify  with  —  women  of  color,  urban  Na- 
tive American,  Xicano.  Rainbow  empowers 
me  to  help  my  community  in  a  way  that  can 
really  be  perceived,"  says  Madrid. 

Beyond  being  a  conscientious  grocery 
store.  Rainbow  budgets  about  4  percent  of 
its  profit  for  donations  and  grants.  These 
range  from  paying  for  food  shipped  directly 
to  soup  kitchens,  to  support  of  tenant-rights 
organizations,  to  grants  to  help  people  start 
other  cooperatives  (even  ones  that  could  be 
seen  as  competition  by  a  traditional  capitalist 
businesses). 

Food  Politics,  Workplace  Politics 

Rainbow  has  also  displayed  its  solidar- 
ity with  others  within  the  grocery  busi- 
ness. People's  Grocery  is  a  mobile  market 
meant  to  serve  parts  of  Oakland  without 
grocery  stores  that  sell  fresh  produce  and 
healthy  foods.  Rainbow  gave  them  a  grant 
of  $10,000  to  get  started  and  has  conducted 
some  trainings  while  struggling  with  finding 
the  best  way  to  share  its  skills  with  others. 

Brahm  Ahmadi,  community  organizer 
and  one  of  People's  Grocery's  founders,  says, 
"At  a  certain  point  in  my  work  as  an  organizer 


o 
o 


vO 


primarily  focused  on  local  economic  develop- 
ment, self-reliance,  and  self-determination  in 
the  community  of  West  Oakland,  I  recognized 
the  important  and  empowering  role  of  worker 
ownership  and  cooperative  workplaces...  I 
approached  Rainbow  seeking  assistance  in 
developing  a  cooperative  in  my  community. 
Rainbow  was  very  responsive  to  the  idea 
and  has  been  a  committed  partner  ever  since, 
lending  invaluable  time,  experience,  and 
know  ledge  in  all  matters  of  our  cooperative 
development.  I  believe  that  Rainbows  part- 
nership and  support  has  significantly  moved 
us  along  the  path  towards  launching  our  own 
cooperative." 

The  People's  Grocery  organizers  are  part 
of  the  growing  "food  security"  movement 
which,  by  bringing  issues  of  class  and  race  into 
discussions  of  healthy  and  organic  food,  tries 
to  address  who  can  take  advantage  of  food 
systems  that  are  less  damaging  to  individuals 
and  the  planet.  Members  of  the  Bay  Area's  ac- 
tive food  security  community  have  many  other 
projects  getting  started  as  well,  including  a 
storefront  Soul  Foods  Coop  grocery  store. 

This  is  an  area  where  some  Rainbow 
workers  admit  they  could  be  doing  a  better  job 
beyond  just  sponsoring  others  to  do  the  work. 

■'I'd  like  to  see  more  outreach  to  com- 
munities of  color  and  let  them  know  we're 
here  for  them.  Let  them  know  there  is  an 
alternative  to  shitty  food  and  bad  health  that 


are  killing  people  of  color,"  says  Madrid.  "Id 
like  to  see  Rainbow  gi\  ing  more  educational 
outreach  to  these  communities  in  regards  to 
food  politics  and  how  it  etTects  them." 

Rainbow  has  started  a  "Coop  Commit- 
tee" to  field  the  calls  of  people  interested  in 
starting  coops,  to  help  organize  the  worker- 
coop  community,  and  to  do  some  kinds  of 
technical  assistance  where  they  can. 

"Rainbow  Grocery  is  an  important  leader 
in  the  Bay  Area' —  as  well  as  U.S.  —  worker 
cooperative  movement,"  says  Tim  Huet,  co- 
operative developer,  attorney,  and  member  of 
the  Association  of  Arizmendi  Cooperatives. 
"1  have  had  dozens  of  people  approach  me 
wanting  to  start  a  worker  cooperative  after 
ha\  ing  encountered  the  inspiring  example  of 
Rainbow's  strong  community  and  financial 
success.  The  vitality  of  Rainbow's  collective 
model  has  served  as  an  important  resource 
and  inspiration  for  the  larger  cooperative 
movement." 

Though  not  a  union  shop,  some  Rain- 
bow workers  also  took  voluntary  payroll  de- 
ductions to  be  sent  to  striking  Southern  Cali- 
fornia grocery  workers  during  their  region- 
wide  strike  to  preserve  their  health  benefits 
last  winter.  Rainbow  workers  plan  to  do  the 
same  if  the  Northern  California  locals  strike 
this  fall. 

Rainbow's  grants  committee  also  gave  a 
grant  to  the  "Young  Workers"  group  of  Unit- 


ed Food  and  Commercial  Workers  (UFCW) 
members,  who  organize  political  and  cultural 
events  locally. 

Jarmon,  who  helped  coordinate  this  sup- 
port, sees  the  importance  of  not  forgetting  the 
"worker"  part  of  worker/owner.  "The  union 
hall  is  four  blocks  from  us.  I  was  able  to  walk 
over  there  and  gi\e  the  organizer  the  check.  I 
think  the  main  point  is  that  even  though  we 
aren't  unionized,  we  understand  the  solidar- 
ity bctw een  workers  in  the  same  sector.  The 
grocer>  industry  is  crucial  to  the  functioning 
of  the  country.  At  Rainbow  we  appreciate  our 
workers,  and  feel  that  all  grocery  workers 
should  receive  that  kind  of  treatment." 

Beyond  food  politics,  the  Coop  Com- 
mittee also  works  with  groups  of  people  who 
want  to  start  pretty  much  any  kind  of  coop.  It 
helped  the  workers  at  The  Lusty  Lady,  who 
recently  bought  their  peep  show  business 
from  the  owner  who  was  going  to  close  it. 
And  It  helps  existing  coops  w  ith  trainings  on 
skills  like  conflict  mediation. 

As  evidenced  by  an  increasing  bud- 
get and  an  increasing  workload.  Rainbow  is 
showing  a  commitment  to  community  em- 
powerment through  coop  de\clopment  that  it 
did  not  previously  have. 

"I  don't  think  cooperatnes  necessarily 
need  to  ha%  e  an  explicit  goal  of  community 
building.  There's  a  very  interesting  "social 
dividend'  that  comes  out  of  worker-owned 


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I.I..I..II..II.....IIII...I.I..I.I..I..I.I...I..II.I 


i>V., 


businesses  that  decentralize  decision-mak- 
ing and  are  structured  around  participatory- 
democracy  in  ternis  of  control:  power,"  says 
Meyers.  "In  order  for  the  business  to  work, 
members  need  to  treat  each  other  —  and  be 
treated  by  each  other  —  with  a  level  of  re- 
spect for  their  autonomy  and  knowledge... 
[This  social  dividend]  draws  people  back  into 
social  hours  between  all  their  weird  jobs... 
and  underwrites  community-building  activi- 
ties with  the  pleasure  of  engaging  in  mutual- 
ity and  empowerment  with  people  you  like." 
"It's  part  of  Rainbow's  mission  statement 
to  help  other  worker  coops,"  says  Kirsten 
Marshall,  a  Rainbow  worker/owner,  member 
of  the  Coop  Committee,  and  elected  member 
of  the  newly  founded  US  Federation  of  Work- 
er Cooperatives  and  Democratic  Workplaces. 
"This  is  important  because  we  realize  we  at 


Rainbow  enjoy  the  privilege  of  being  part  of 
a  democratic  workplace  and  want  to  help  cre- 
ate that  for  as  many  people  as  possible.  1  think 
worker-coops  taking  over  the  world  will  help 
create  social  and  economic  justice.  I  wanna 
help  make  that  happen."  "sV 

Gordon  Edgar  has  been  the  cheese  buyer  at 
Rainbow  Grocety  Cooperative  for  over  ten 
years.  He  attends  roughly  the  same  number 
of  cheese  conferences  and  worker-coop  con- 
ferences. His  writing  has  appeared  in  places 
such  as  The  Anderson  Valley  Advertiser. 
Maximum  RocknRoll,  and  Peko  Peko.  Gor- 
don can  be  reached  at  gorzola@yahoo.com. 
More  information  about  Rainbow  Grocery 
can  be  found  at  www.rainbowgrocery.coop. 


r 


Economics  for  the  People 


;ople 

Economics  has  its  roots  in  the  Greek 
word   oikonomos  or  management 
of  a  household.    In  the  past,  the 
household  in  Greek  society  consisted 
ofalargekinshipgrouporcommunity 
of  extended  family  members  who 
shared  collective  responsibility  and 
fruits  of  their  labor.  In  fact,  in  most 
societies,  harvests  were  traditionally 
shared  according  to  strict  customs 
that  allowed  for  the  survival  of  the 
community  as  a  whole;  justice  was 
a  family  affair;  and  property  was 
inalienable  from  the  family.  Only  in 
recent  times  has  the  fundamental 
unit  of  economics  switched  from  the 
community  to  the  individual. 
■Marianne  Elizabeth  Love 


DEMOCRACY  AT  WORK 


Burt  Berlowe 


Even  as  the  policies  of  the  Bush  administration  threaten  American 
democracy  and  economic  stability,  an  eclectic,  expanding  array 
of  small  businesses  around  the  country  are  increasingly  exercising 
people  power.  There  are  currently  hundreds  of  democratically  run 
cooperatives  in  the  United  States,  ranging  from  small  shops  to  large 
businesses. 

Contrary  to  popular  belief,  worker  co-ops  are  not  limited  to  gro- 
cery stores  and  bakeries.  They  include  steel  mills  and  computer  firms, 
cab  companies  and  restaurants,  even  a  sex  toy  retailer,  tanning  salon, 
and  exotic  dancing  club.  What  they  share  is  a  commitment  to  econom- 
ic democracy  through  worker  control;  a  socialist  concept  adapted  to 
our  capitalistic  times. 

This  spring,  nearly  100  representatives  from  worker-owned  and  - 
operated  businesses  across  the  country  converged  in  Cedar-Riverside. 
Minneapolis,  for  their  first  national  conference.  Their  goal  was  not 
only  to  meet  and  share  advice,  but  to  create  a  permanent  coalition  to 
help  strengthen  their  existing  businesses  and  spark  the  formation  of 
new  worker  co-ops. 

During  a  conference  business  session,  attendees  approved  the 
formation  of  a  coalition  and  named  it  the  U.S.  Federation  of  Worker 
Cooperatives  and  Democratic  Workplaces.  They  set  up  a  preliminary 
structure  and  made  plans  to  finish  the  job.  The  federation  delegates 
came  up  with  several  main  objectives,  including  providing  training 
and  networking  for  co-ops  and  collectives,  collaborating  with  aca- 
demic institutions,  and  working  on  legislation  that  will  benefit  mem- 
bers. 

"Our  basic  goal  is  to  spread  the  movement,"  said  Tom  Pierson,  a 
worker-owner  at  the  local  Seward  Cafe  and  one  of  the  conference  or- 
ganizers. "But  we  need  to  be  strong  first  so  that  we  can  be  an  example 
for  others  to  emulate...  Everyone  working  towards  economic  democ- 
racy in  this  country  and  world  is  part  of  this  movement,  but  they  are 
not  all  coordinated. . .  Nevertheless,  the  worker  cooperative  movement 


is  growing.  Worker  co-ops  are  the  strongest  they  have  ever  been." 

Hilary  Abell.  the  executive  director  of  a  nonprofit  co-op-de- 
velopment organization  from  the  Oakland-Berkeley  area,  found  the 
gathering,  "Exciting  and  historic,  a  chance  to  celebrate  the  creating 
of  more  power,  an  expanding  of  the  movement."  Abeli's  organization, 
Women's  Action  to  Gain  Economic  Security  (WAGES),  helps  Latina 
immigrants  create  worker  cooperatives  that  provide  a  living  wage  and 
decent  benefits,  while  helping  to  nurture  leadership  skills  within  the 
community. 

"We  [worker  co-ops]  all  provide  democratic  values  and  practices 
and  are  more  concerned  about  those  principles  than  about  making 
money,"  Abell  said.  "This  is  part  of  broader  movement  towards  a  more 
sustainable  economy  and  a  community  building  process." 

"1  was  very  excited  and  impressed  by  the  conference,"  said  Jes- 
sica Gordon  Nembhard,  an  associate  professor  and  economist  in  the 
Afro-American  Studies  program  at  the  University  of  Maryland  who 
grew-up  in  a  cooperative  housing  project  in  Ponoma,  New  York.  "The 
energy  and  amount  of  work  that  was  done  came  close  to  achieving  the 
goals  of  setting  up  an  organization." 

"Generally,  economic  democracy  in  not  taught  at  colleges.  It 
tends  to  be  marginalized,"  says  Gordon  Nembhard.  She  is  hopefiil  the 
new  national  federation  will  help  change  that  trend. 

At  the  moment,  the  Federation  of  Worker  Cooperatives  and 
Democratic  Workplaces  is  continuing  to  develop  its  internal  structure 
and  processes  and  to  plan  for  a  second  national  event  next  year.  For 
more  information,  please  visit  www.usworker.coop/contact.php.  tV 

Burt  Berlowe  is  a  freelance  writer,  peace  educator,  and  social  change 
activist  working  out  of  his  home  in  Minneapolis.  His  most  recent 
book  is  The  Compassionate  Rebel:  Energized  by  Anger,  Motivated  by 
Love,  which  contains  profiles  of  50  peace  and  justice  activists.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Seward  Co-op  in  Minneapolis. 


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Brown  University's  Blow  to  the  Graduate  Student  Union  Movement 

A  Right  Not  Yet  Secure 


Chris  Frazer  came  from  his  home  in  Calgary,  Ontario,  to 
attend  graduate  school  in  History  at  Brown  University  in 
the  fall  of  1997.  Thirty-seven  years  old  with  a  wife  and  two 
daughters,  he  was  faced  with  the  inability  to  support  his  family 
during  his  first  year  of  school.  First  year  students  were  not 
eligible  for  teaching  assistantships,  and  as  Canadians,  neither 
Chris  nor  his  wife  was  legally  able  to  work  outside  of  the 
university.  To  make  matters  worse.  Frazer  had  to  come  up  with 
S2000  to  pay  for  one  year  of  the  family  health  insurance  plan 
that  Brown  made  available  to  students.  The  health  plan  was 
"pitiful"  in  its  coverage,  he  says,  and  without  a  dental  plan. 

In  Frazer's  second  year,  he  received  a  teaching 
assistantship,  but  the  $12,000  stipend  was  far  from  enough 
to  make  ends  meet.  Frazer  and  another  grad  student  formed 
a  group  called  the  Committee  for  Reasonable  and  Affordable 
Student  Health  (CRASH)  to  pressure  the  university  to  reduce 
the  cost  of  the  health  plan. 

The  group  quickly  grew.  "The  response  to  CRASH  was 
amazing,"  Frazer  remembers.  "It  was  quite  clear  that  there  was 
widespread  dissatisfaction,  and  that  it  hadn't  been  brought  to 
the  surface  before."  By  the  end  of  the  1998-99  school  year,  the 
group  had  successfully  pressured  the  university  to  defray  a 
few  hundred  dollars  of  the  health  plan  cost  for  each  student. 
Frazer  was  pleased  with  the  change,  but  knew  that 
graduate  students  at  Brown  could  do  better. 
They  needed  a  union.  "Given  the 
reluctance  of  the  administration 
to  even  make  changes 
with  the  health  plan," 
he  says,  "and  given 
our  understanding  that 
we  could  lose  even  what  we  had 
just  gained,  we  decided  that  the  best  thing  we 
could  do  was  organize  and  compel  them  to 
bargain  with  us." 

Frazer   and    other   concerned   graduate 


students,  many  of  whom  were  active  in  CRASH,  started  to  hold 
meetings  out  of  which  the  Brown  Graduate  Employees  Organization 
(BGEO)  was  born.  A  few  months  later,  they  filed  for  an  election  with 
the  regional  labor  board  and  began  organizing  their  fellow  students 
for  a  vote  that  would  take  place  in  December  2001. 

The  organizers  found  themselves  unprepared  for  the  harsh  anti- 
union campaign  waged  by  both  a  group  of  fellow  students  and  by  the 
university  administration. 

The  Student  Becomes  the  Teacher 

Graduate  employee  unions  have  existed  at  state  universities  since 
the  Teaching  Assistants'  Association  (TAA)  at  the  University  of 
Wisconsin  was  granted  recognition  in  1969.  Because  labor  issues  at 
public  schools  are  covered  by  state  labor  law,  the  battle  for  union 
recognition  in  state  schools  has  had  to  be  fought  state  by  state. 

Private  schools,  on  the  other  hand,  are  covered  by  federal  labor 
law.  Up  until  2000,  the  National  Labor  Relations  Board  (NLRB) 
refused  to  recognize  the  right  of  graduate  students  at  private  schools 
to  form  a  union,  contending  in  a  few  separate  decisions  —  beginning 
with  a  1974  case  involving  Stanford  University  —  that  grad  students' 
relationship  to  the  university  was  primarily  educational  rather  than 
economic. 

Over  the  next  few  decades,  private  universities  began  to  take 
on  a  more  corporate  orientation,  even  as  they  continued  to  officially 
be  non-profit  agencies.  The  salaries  of  top  university  administrators 
began  to  resemble  those  of  corporate  CEOs  (in  2002,  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania's  Judith  Rodin  received  over  S800,000  in  salary  alone), 
while  the  pay  of  faculty  and  other  staff  stagnated.  One  important 
strategy  to  hold  down  labor  costs  has  been  increased  dependence  on 
the  work  of  graduate  students,  not  only  as  teaching  assistants,  but  as 
the  actual  teachers.  Between  1975  and  1995,  the  number  of  graduate 
students  who  are  also  faculty  members  rose  35  percent,  according  to 
the  American  Association  of  University  Professors. 

It  became  increasingly  difficult  for  even  the  NLRB  to  deny 
the  role  of  graduate  students  as  university  employees.  In  2000,  the 


word:  Peter  Ian  Asen  llustration  Zack  Giallongo 


U 


ERSITY 


o 


Board  overturned  the  Stanford  precedent  in  a  unanimous,  bipartisan 
decision  during  a  union  drive  at  New  York  University  (NYU).  This 
emboldened  graduate  students  at  a  number  of  other  private  universities 

—  including  Brown,  Columbia,  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  and 
Tufts  —  to  forge  ahead  with  their  own  organizing  drives. 

The  movement  received  another  boost  in  January  of  2002,  when 
NYU  agreed  to  its  first-ever  contract  with  its  graduate  employees. 
The  deal  included  stipend  raises  that  for  some  reached  nearly  40 
percent,  as  well  as  increased  health  care  benefits. 

Organizing  for  Power 

in  February  2001,  graduate  students  at  Brown  were  flocking  to  the 
early  organizing  meetings  due  to  frustrations  with  stagnant  stipends, 
rising  area  rents,  health  insurance  costs,  and  heavy  workloads. 
Second-year  History  graduate  student  Jonathan  Hagel  attended  his 
first  BGEO  meeting.  "The  amount  of  power  that  graduate  students 
[individually]  had  to  affect  our  living  conditions  was  damn  near 
zero,"  Hagel  says.  Forming  a  union,  students  realized,  was  the  surest 
way  to  change  that  power  dynamic. 

After  discussions  with  a  few  different  international  unions,  the 
BGEO  decided  to  affiliate  with  the  United  Auto  Workers.  Though 
the  academic  workplace  was  outside  their  original  jurisdiction,  by 
2001  the  autoworkers'  union  represented  15,000  graduate  student 
employees  at  15  universities,  including  the  groundbreaking  group  at 
NYU.  After  affiliating  with  the  Auto  Workers,  the  BGEO  began  a 
drive  to  sign  up  their  fellow  graduate  students  on  union  cards  and 
thus  file  for  a  union  election. 

A  committed  core  of  20  graduate  student  organizers  spent  hours 
each  week  going  department  to  department  to  convince  their  fellow 
teaching  and  research  assistants  to  support  the  union  effort  and  sign 
a  union  card.  Of  course,  these  student  organizers  also  had  to  grade 
papers,  lead  sections,  take  classes,  and  prepare  for  graduate  exams 

—  not  to  mention  research  and  write  their  own  dissertations. 

But  BGEO  members  faced  more  than  a  limited  amount  of  time 
and  resources.  They  also  faced  a  strong  opposition  to  their  union  dri\e 
by  a  group  of  their  fellow  graduate  students  called  At  What  Cost? 

The  early  stages  of  the  BGEO  organizing  drive  were  conducted 
in  secret  in  order  to  build  a  base  of  support  before  provoking 
administration  opposition.  At  What  Cost  criticized  BGEO, 
characterizing  the  union  effort  as  a  "sort  of  clandestine  plot  to  take 
over  the  university,"  in  the  words  of  BGEO  organizing  committee 
member  Sheyda  Jahanbani. 

In  what  Jahanbani  calls  "the  ugliest  manifestation  of  their 
campaign,"  At  What  Cost  began  to  question  the  alliance  with  the  Auto 
Workers'  union,  implying  that  a  union  of  blue-collar  manufacturing 
workers  was  beneath  graduate  students. 

In  retrospect,  Hagel  believes  that  BGEO  did  not  take  At  What 
Cost  seriously  enough.  "There  was  a  decision  made  by  the  more 
idealistic  of  us,"  Hagel  says,  "who  said  'Listen,  people  are  smart. 
They  know  what's  going  on.  Let's  not  even  respond  to  these  charges." 
That  was  a  mistake." 

Meanwhile,  the  efforts  of  At  What  Cost  were  being  bolstered 
by  an  anti-union  campaign  by  Brown's  administration.  The 
administration  also  played  upon  anti-union  stereotypes,  Chris 
Frazer  says.  "They  portrayed  us  as  goons  and  thugs.  Right  from  the 
beginning  they  portrayed  the  UAW  as  an  outsider  coming  in  " 

The  linchpin  of  Brown's  anti-imion  campaign  was  the  new 
president,  Ruth  Simmons.  Simmons  held  a  dinner  for  graduate 
students  in  which  she  tried  to  talk  them  out  of  supporting  the  union, 
arguing  that  the  students  should  give  her  time  to  make  some  positive 
changes  at  Brown.  "A  lot  of  people  were  seduced  by  the  slogan  that 
the  administration  put  forward."  Frazer  says,  "which  was  basically. 
'Cine  Ruth  a  C  hance."  They  used  that  \er>  effecti\ely  to  undermine 
the  union  campaign."' 


Simmons  promised  that  the  concerns  of  graduate  students 
would  be  resolved  by  administrators  sitting  down  w  ith  the  Graduate 
Student  Council.  And  she  defended  her  campaigning  by  saying  that 
the  university  setting  demanded  a  democratic,  open  debate. 

But  a  week  after  the  ballots  were  cast  on  December  6,  Simmons 
threw  all  discussion  of  democracy  aside.  Brown  filed  a  legal 
challenge  denying  that  Brown  graduate  students  even  had  the  right 
to  vote  on  unionizing,  appealing  the  initial  labor  board  decision  that 
had  allowed  the  vote  to  occur  and  beginning  a  tedious  legal  battle 
that  would  drain  much  of  the  momentum  BGEO  had  built. 

After  the  election,  BGEO  organizers  understood  that  the  best 
way  forward  was  to  keep  the  pressure  on  the  university,  and  not  let  the 
issue  fade  away  —  after  all,  even  if  they  won  at  the  labor  board,  and 
won  the  election  when  the  ballots  were  open,  they  would  ha\e  to  fight 
once  again  for  a  contract.  But  when  they  went  out  to  organize,  they 
found  their  fellow  graduate  students  bruised  from  the  nasty  election 
campaign  and  tired  of  talking  about  the  union.  Jon  Hagel  remembers: 
"People  would  say.  "1  am  a  supporter,  but  regardless,  the  decision  is 
in  appeal.  It's  not  like  we're  going  to  strike  for  recognition,  so  what 
is  the  point  [of  continuing  to  organize]?'" 

Support  for  the  union  was  also  draining  because  the  university 
had  decided  to  improve  graduate  student  working  conditions.  Brown 
increa.sed  stipends  and  suddenly  decided  to  cover  health  insurance 
fully.  By  taking  away  some  of  the  issues  that  BGEO  organized 
around.  Brown  convinced  some  graduate  students  that  there  was  no 
longer  a  need  for  a  union  and  that  their  voices  had  been  heard. 

"Very  simply,"  Sheyda  Jahanbani  says,  "they  bought  us  out." 
Jahanbani  is  glad  that  her  stipend,  once  under  SI 2.000.  has  now- 
risen  to  $16,000,  but  she  also  knows  that  without  a  union,  what  the 
university  has  given  can  also  be  taken  away. 

In  the  face  of  all  these  challenges,  BGEO  members  essentially 
lost  their  energy  for  organizing.  Key  organizers  went  away  to  do 
research  or  finish  their  dissertations;  others  graduated  or  dropped 
out  of  the  organizing  committee  altogether.  "A  lot  of  us  had  to  put 
off  our  work  for  the  better  part  of  a  year."  Jahanbani  says,  "and  we 
had  expected  that  when  the  [election]  campaign  was  over,  we  could 
return  to  our  own  lives."  Rather  than  finding  new  blood  to  keep  the 
organizing  committee  running  strong,  the  BGEO  simply  turned  to 
waiting  for  a  labor  board  decision.  As  the  waiting  game  continued 
for  two  and  a  half  long  years,  more  and  inore  of  the  graduate  student 
body  turned  o\er.  and  the  group's  base  shrank. 

The  Labor  Board  Strikes  Back 

This  July.  B()EO"sdri\eto  form  a  union  was  dealt  a  potentially  deadly 
blow,  when  the  NLRB  ruled  that  the  students  do  not  ha\e  a  right 
to  form  a  union.  In  a  3-2  decision,  the  board  sided  with  the  Brown 
administration's  contention  that  the  graduate  students  are  primarily 
students  rather  than  employees,  and  that  they  thus  have  no  legally 
recognized  right  to  form  a  union.  The  decision  completcK  re\ersed 
the  NYU  decision  of  less  than  four  years  before  and  threatens  to 
curtail  organizing  efforts  at  a  half-dozen  other  private  universities 
around  the  country. 

Given  BGEOs  loss  of  momentum  and  organization  since  the 
election  more  than  two  years  ago.  the  labor  board  decision  denying 
their  right  to  organize  could  easily  end  the  group"s  union  campaign. 
But  Chris  Frazer,  who  has  since  graduated  and  is  now  a  professor  in 
Canada,  hopes  that  students  at  Brow  n  and  elsewhere  will  not  take  the 
labor  boards  decision  as  the  tinal  word.  "My  fear. "  he  says,  "is  that 
people  are  going  to  want  to  wash  their  hands  of  it  and  not  realize  how 
important  it  is  to  fight  this." 

Short  of  getting  the  board  to  overturn  itself  yet  again,  the 
onl\  option  left  to  BGEO  and  other  groups  organizing  at  private 
universities  is  to  force  their  universities  to  accept  a  "card  check."  This 
would  involve  organizing  more  than  half  of  the  eligible  workers  to 


sign  union  cards,  and  then  pressuring  the  university  to  recognize  the 
union  without  NLRB  intervention.  This  has  occurred  in  some  public 
school  settings.  In  Massachusetts,  the  state  labor  board  initially 
said  that  graduate  students  at  UMass  had  no  right  to  organize,  but 
the  union  effort  there  trudged  on  and  forced  university  recognition 
anyway. 

"We  hope  we  can  convince  universities  that  the  card  check 
system  is  inherently  a  democratic  one,"  says  Donna  Becotte.  an 
international  representative  for  the  UAW  who  has  worked  with  the 
graduate  assistants  at  Brown.  "Unfortunately,  universities  have  been 
turning  to  the  corporate  model,  where  they  fight  the  union  at  any  cost. 
So  a  recognition  campaign  is  just  as  challenging  as  going  through  the 
labor  board,  although  it  may  have  a  better  result." 

At  Brown,  the  current  state  of  the  organizing  effort  makes  such 
a  pressure  campaign  highly  unlikely,  at  least  in  the  near  future.  The 
NLRB  demanded  that  regional  boards  decide  the  cases  of  Columbia, 
Tufts,  and  Penn.  which  all  also  have  locked  up  ballots,  in  accordance 
with  the  recent  anti-union  decision  at  Brown.  However,  graduate 
student  union  groups  at  some  of  these  schools  have,  in  Jon  Hagefs 
words,  "weathered  the  withering  effects  of  time"  better  than  BGEO. 

At  Penn,  for  instance,  the  Graduate  Employees  Together- 
UPenn  (GET-UP)  staged  a  two-day  strike  this  February  to  protest 
the  university's  fight  against  their  union.  In  a  sign  of  GET-UP's 
continued  strength,  83  percent  of  voting  GET-UP  members  approved 
the  strike. 

At  Tufts.  Joe  Ramsey,  an  organizing  committee  member  for 
Association  of  Student  Employees  at  Tufts  (ASET),  says  that  ASET's 
big  mistake  all  along  was  to  put  so  much  stock  in  the  NLRB,  rather 
than  simply  organizing  well  enough  to  force  a  concession  from  Tufts. 
Ramsey  says.  "I  think  that's  the  lesson  for  us  of  this  process  is  that 
you  can't  depend  on  these  third-party  agencies  to  help  you.  Certainly, 
we've  endured  the  drag  of  a  two-year  waiting  period." 

During  those  two  years,  he  says,  ASET  has  tried  to  do  more  than 
wait.  "We've  done  various  things  to  keep  our  members  conscious  of 
workplace  issues,  and  also  try  to  keep  them  aware  of  issues  at  other 
campuses.  But  sure  it's  tough  —  it's  tough  because  people  graduate 
or  maybe  they're  still  finishing  their  dissertation  but  they're  working 
two  adjunct  jobs  in  Boston." 

For  Ramsey,  a  fifth-year  graduate  student  who  has  organized 
with  ASET  for  years  and  who  has  a  dissertation  to  finish,  the  idea 
of  going  back  to  square  one  must  be  exhausting.  He  maintains, 
however,  that  ASET  has  "kept  a  core  of  people  still  active"  in  spite 
of  these  challenges.  "And  I  think  that  now  that  this  decision's  come 
down,"  he  adds  of  the  Brown  case,  "and  even  if  the  ballots  [at  Tufts] 
are  thrown  out,  we're  back  on  the  ground  again.  We're  back  to  where 
we  were  in  fall  of  2001,  when  we  had  a  massive  card  drive  and  had  a 
few  hundred  cards  signed  in  a  few  months." 

At  Brown,  not  only  have  older  organizers  like  Chris  Frazer 
moved  on,  but  younger  folks  like  Sheyda  Jahanbani  and  Jon  Hagel  are 
now  fifth-year  students.  Thanks  to  a  policy  that  has  been  instituted 
since  the  union  drive.  Jahanbani  and  Hagel  have  to  focus  on  finishing 
their  dissertations  before  the  end  of  their  sixth  years,  when  Brown 
can  cut  off  their  access  to  teaching  assistantships  and  funding. 

The  six-year  funding  limit  is  just  one  example  of  what  BGEO 
organizers  have  said  all  along  —  the  university  might  raise  stipends 
and  cut  health  care  premiums,  but  without  a  union,  it  can  also  take 
things  away.  "For  us.  a  union  was  basically  about  giving  us  some 
power  over  our  working  conditions,"  Jon  Hagel  says.  "Though  our 
living  conditions  have  improved,  the  structural  issues  have  not 
changed."  it 

Peter  Ian  Asen  was  a  member  of  the  Brown  Student  Labor  Alliance, 
organizing  fellow  undergraduate  students  to  encourage  Brown  to 
take  a  neutral  —  rather  than  negative  —  position  towards  the  union 
drive.  He  now  lives  in  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  andean  be  reached 
at  peterasen  (w,gmail.  com. 


t 


A  Call  for  Action  from  Corporate  U. 


Kalamazoo,  Ml,  like  many  other  Midwestern  cities,  is  experi- 
encing the  impacts  of  globalization.  Over  the  past  15  years, 
the  area  has  lost  3,000  manufacturing  jobs  and  close  to 
1,000  high-end  research  scientists  as  the  pharmaceutical 
giant  Pfizer  restructured  its  operations.  Kalamazoo's  poverty 
rate  is  25  percent,  and  as  Rick  Stravers,  director  of  Open 
Door  Shelters  states,  "homeless  shelters  are  literally  over- 
flowing." 

Western  Michigan  University  is  the  city's  largest  employ- 
er. As  it  increasingly  adopts  a  corporate  model  of  operation 
in  which  efficiency,  speculative  development  and  privatization 
become  the  guiding  ethical  principles,  WMU  contributes  to  the 
poor  social  conditions  of  many  of  Kalamazoo's  residents. 

In  the  spring  of  2004,  sixty  unionized  custodial  jobs  at  WMU 
were  outsourced  to  a  private  company,  advertising  positions 
paying  a  pathetic  $6.50-7.50/hr.  The  administration  repeatedly 
asserted  that  this  was  an  unfortunate  but  necessary  action  in 
order  to  keep  costs  low  in  a  time  of  "budgetary  crisis." 

Tim  Birch,  President  of  American  Federation  of  State, 
County,  and  Municipal  Employees  (AFSCME)  local  1668, 
which  represents  the  custodians,  sees  the  decision  as  ideo- 
logically, not  fiscally,  motivated.  "The  new  contractor  gave 
a  proposal  that  described  dramatically  less  work  than  what 
AFSCME  provided  WMU,"  he  says.  "We  were  not  given  a 
chance  to  bid  on  the  same  contract." 

The  custodial  employees  who  lost  their  jobs  at  WMU 
were  met  with  a  complete  lack  of  support.  Recent  outcry 
over  the  elimination  of  two  financially  draining  sports  teams 
at  WMU  was  so  impassioned  that  $100,000  was  raised  in 
mere  months,  but  the  destruction  of  decent  paying  jobs  and 
the  creation  of  more  poverty  wages  in  Kalamazoo  barely  reg- 
istered —  especially  among  WMU  faculty.  Dr.  Robert  Ulin, 
Anthropology  Department  Chair,  explains,  "even  though 
they  have  common  interests,  most  faculty  don't  identify 
themselves  as  'workers.'"  However,  many  universities  are 
phasing  out  faculty  positions  in  favor  of  part  time  staff  and 
Internet  courses. 

Over  the  past  year,  much  of  the  comparative  religion 
department  at  WMU  was  shut  down.  Religion  is  the  type  of 
humanities  program  that  does  not  attract  much  outside  cor- 
porate funding.  Conversely,  last  fall  WMU  found  the  money  to 
open  a  new  engineering  research  park  to  the  tune  of  nearly 
$100  million. 

If  collective  community  action  isn't  taken  against  the 
corporate  leanings  of  universities,  it  is  not  unlikely  that 
many  will  soon  be  invoking  a  less  horrific  version  of  Martin 
Niemoller's  famous  anti-Nazi  lament...  First  they  came  for 
the  janitors,  and  I  didn't  speak  up,  because  I  wasn't  a  jani- 
tor. Then  they  came  for  the  humanities  faculty,  but  I  didn't 
speak  up,  because  I  wasn't  a  humanities  professor. .  .-^ 
-Boone  Shear 


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CNJ 


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Food  Not  Bombs 

Serves  Up  a  Victory  in  Tampa 


Lara  Stewart  and  Charles  Suggs 


6  4  T "  1 1  get  up  when  everyone  has  had  enough  to  eat,"  1 9-year- 
J.uld  acti\  ist  Jimmy  Dunson  told  the  poUce,  refusing  their 
order  to  pick  up  and  leave. 

Dunson  was  the  lone  person  distributing  food  to  the  homeless  in 
Hennan  C.  Massey  Park  that  day.  Other  Food  Not  Bombs  mcnibcrs 
had  been  arrested  for  doing  the  same  thing  the  weekend  before  as  part 
of  a  crackdown  by  the  Tampa  Police  Department.  Like  many  other  cit- 
ies throughout  the  United  States,  feeding  the  homeless  without  special 
permits  is  illegal  in  Tampa. 

"You  can  feed  the  damned  pigeons  but  you  can't  feed  the  home- 
less," shouted  Charles  Hinkle,  one  of  the  homeless  eating  at  the  park, 
throwing  bagel  crumbs  to  the  birds  as  the  police  took  Dunson  away. 

Food  Not  Bombs  (FNB)  is  a  name  used  internationally  by  people 
connected  through  shared  principles.  The  group  has  no  formal  char- 
ter; like-minded  activists  anywhere  can  fonn  their  own  FNB  just  by 
showing  up.  The  one  thing  all  FNB  groups  share  in  common  is  their 
distribution  of  free,  nutritious  food. 

According  to  the  Hillsborough  County  Homeless  Coalition,  there 
are  as  many  as  6,500  homeless  in  and  around  Tampa.  The  latest  FNB 
incarnation  in  the  city  came  together  in  November  2003  during  a  high- 
energy  meeting  following  protests  against  the  FTAA  (Free  Trade  Area 
of  the  Americas)  in  Miami.  One  of  the  explicit  goals  of  the  group  was 
to  combat  a  Tampa  ordinance  that  prohibited  serving  food  in  public 
parks  w  ithout  a  pennit. 

In  all,  six  activists  were  arrested  over  a  two-month  period  this 
year  for  serving  food  in  downtown  Tampa.  Lily  Lewis,  a  FNB  activist 
and  president  of  the  Student  Environmental  Association  at  Tampa's 
University  of  South  Florida,  was  arrested  even  after  complying  with 
police  requests  to  leave.  She  reports  being  told,  "This  is  what  hap- 
pens when  you  follow  your  morals,"  by  one  of  the  arresting  police 
sergeants. 

After  extensive  reporting  on  the  issue  by  the  local  Independent 
Media  Center  and  community  radio  station  WMNF,  the  corporate  me- 
dia began  to  take  interest.  TV  crews  showed  up  at  the  park  during  one 
FNB  picnic,  along  w  ith  solidarity  protesters  from  homeless  advocacy 
and  church  groups,  but  the  police  were  nowhere  to  be  found.  "Either 


they  forgot  to  set  their  clocks,  or  they're  not  coming,"  said  one  at- 
tendee. 

When  several  activists  appeared  in  court  following  their  arrests, 
20  protesters  stood  outside  serving  food  to  passersby,  playing  music 
and  gathering  petition  signatures  to  change  the  Tampa  ordinance. 
Some  people  had  traveled  from  as  far  away  as  Gainesville  to  show 
their  support. 

As  pro  bono  lawyers  defending  some  of  the  activists  planned 
how  to  best  challenge  the  constitutionality  of  the  ordinance,  and  as 
other  strategies  were  discussed  and  support  rallied,  the  city  decided  to 
drop  all  of  the  charges  without  fanfare  in  May  2004.  All  fines  and  bail 
money  were  returned. 

Fran  Davin,  Special  Assistant  to  Tampa  Mayor  Pam  lorio,  says 
that  the  charges  were  dropped  because  the  ordinance,  which  was  last 
amended  in  1978,  needs  to  be  rewritten.  The  city  has  agreed  to  update 
the  law  with  Food  Not  Bombs'  input. 

"I  was  impressed  with  the  city  for  sitting  down  and  trying  to 
make  it  right,  instead  of  defending  ordinances  that  don't  serve  their 
purpose,"  said  Mike  Maddox,  an  attorney  who  represented  some  of 
the  activists.  "It's  noble  of  them." 

Still,  Davin  would  not  say  whether  Food  Not  Bombs  would  be 
able  to  continue  using  Massey  Park  when  the  new  ordinance  is  en- 
acted. "I  will  tell  you  this,"  she  said.  "[The  park]  is  undersized  and 
under-equipped  . . .  these  parks  have  to  be  accessible  and  acceptable  to 
all  of  the  public." 

This  spring.  Mayor  lorio  stated  that  feeding  the  homeless  in  pub- 
lic parks  could  have  a  chilling  effect,  presenting  other  people  from 
using  them.  FNB  activists  point  out  that  before  their  actions.  Massey 
Park  was  a  cold  and  desolate  place  used  only  by  the  homeless.  They 
argue  that  their  work  has  brought  new  people,  increased  use,  and  a 
sense  of  community  to  the  park,  -ii 

Lara  is  a  freelance  writer  whose  work  has  appeared  in  several  national 
ptiplications.  Charles  is  a  journalism  student  at  the  University  of  South 
Florida  in  Tampa.  They  are  both  founding  members  of  the  Tampa  Bay 
chapter  of  IndyMedia  and  write  and  organize  for  the  collective.  Reach 
iheni  at  charlesidjampaindymedia  nij^  and  lara(atampaindymedia.org 


atwve  Mark  Parrish  (right)  and  Anthony  Schmidt  hold  a  Food  Not  Bombs  banner  across  from  Massey  Park 

above  right  Jimmy  Dunson  is  laid  lace  down  on  the  pavement     for  serving  food  to  the  homeless  Photos  by  tara  Stewart 


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It  happens  somewhere  in  America  al- 
most every  day.  On  Chicago's  South 
Side,  dozens  of  elderly  folks  gather 
outside  the  power  company's  gates  be- 
fore dawn  to  block  utility  trucks  from 
going  to  shut  off  poor  people's  electric- 
ity and  are  arrested.  In  Los  Angeles, 
African-American,  Latino,  and  Korean 
bus  riders,  all  wearing  yellow  t-shirts 
and  chanting,  march  one  week  against 
poor  public  transportation,  and  the  next 
against  the  war  in  Iraq. 

Despite  the  supposed  lack  of  class 
conflict  in  the  United  States,  hardly 
a  day  passes  without  angry  crowds  of 
ordinary  people  confronting  the  elites 
whose  decisions  affect  their  lives.  In 
organizing  terminology,  these  groups 
are  frequently  called  community-based 
organizations,  or  CBO's.  From  national 
networks  like  ACORN  and  the  Indus- 
trial Areas  Foundation  to  locally  based 
groups  like  Direct  Action  for  Rights  and 
Equality  in  Providence  or  the  Bus  Rid- 
ers' Union  in  Los  Angeles,  these  groups 
share  a  particular  set  of  organizing 
methods  first  developed  in  the  1930s. 

words  Jim  Straub 
phoL.  ACORN 


ACORN  activists  march  in  Los  Angeles  in 
ttieir  predatory  lending  practices 


kVells  Fargo  and 


o 


A  History  of  Community  Based 
Organizations  in  the  United  States 


Although  community  organizing  in  the  United 
States  has  many  roots,  historians  frequently 
trace  its  modem  genesis  to  a  disgruntled  social 
worker  named  Saul  Alinsky.  Bom  and  raised 
in  the  slums  of  Chicago's  south  side.  Alinsky 
led  a  colorful  life  during  the  early  part  of  the 
century  —  brawling  in  Jewish-Polish  gang 
fights,  infiltrating  Al  Capone's  crime  family  to 
write  a  sociology  paper  on  it.  and  working  as 
a  state  criminologist  —  before  finding  his  tme 
calling  as  a  radical  organizer  in  the  1930s. 

Alinsky  found  himself  drawn  to  "the 
causes  that  meant  something  in  those  days 
—  fighting  fascism  at  home  and  abroad  and 
doing  something  to  improve  the  life  of  the 
masses  of  people  who  were  without  jobs, 
food,  or  hope,"  he  reflected  in  an  interview 
in  the  1960s.  The  experience  of  revolution- 
ary upheaval  during  the  Great  Depression 
inspired  Alinsky  to  take  things  a  step  fiir- 
ther.  He  moved  back  to  his  old  south  side 
neighborhood,  the  Packinghouse  District 
immortalized  by  Upton  Sinclair  in  his  novel 
The  Jungle,  and  started  what  he  called  "an 
organization  of  organizations."  Conceived 
as  a  community-wide  coalition  to  fight  for 
the  needs  of  an  impoverished,  working-class 
neighborhood,  the  Back  of  the  Yards  Council 
managed  to  unite  a  poor,  ethnically  divided 
slum  and  score  a  number  of  surprising  victo- 
ries against  meatpacking  companies  and  the 
local  government. 

The  larger  significance  of  the  Back  of 
the  Yards  Council  was  that  it  was  replicable; 
its  strategy  of  uniting  constituencies  in  a 
neighborhood  around  indigenous  leadership 
and  goals  could  be  picked  up  and  taken  to  al- 
most any  community  in  the  country.  Alinsky 
found  himself  being  called  around  the  United 
States  to  help  start  other  community-based 
organizations.  His  brash  style  and  the  militant 
tactics  of  the  groups  he  helped  form  won  him 
suspicion  and  anger  from  local  elites.  The 
Kansas  City  police  jailed  him.  while  the  Oak- 
land City  Council  voted  to  ban  him  from  the 
city  altogether.  Malcolm  X,  meanwhile,  said, 
"that  man  knows  more  about  organizing  than 
any  other  person  in  the  country." 


Alinsky 's  model  called  for  a  profession- 
al organizer  to  act  as  an  outside  agitator  to 
unite  existing  local  groups  and  build  a  mem- 
bership base  around  issues  the  community 
felt  were  important.  He  emphasized  militant 
confrontation  against  the  power  stmcture.  but 
advocated  flexibility  in  tactics  and  ideologi- 
cal relativism.  "The  question  is  not,  'Does 
the  end  justify  the  means?'  The  question  is, 
"Does  this  particular  end  justify  this  particu- 
lar means?""  he  wrote  in  his  organizing  text- 
book Reveille  for  Radicals. 

With  such  a  flexible,  pragmatic  outlook, 
Alinsky-style  groups  found  themselves  free 
to  use  tactics  ranging  from  protest  mobs  to 
company  boycotts  to  one  memorable  "fart-in" 
at  an  opera  in  Rochester,  New  York.  Alinsky 
extended  this  flexibility  to  politics,  saying  the 
organizer  should  not  have  an  outside  agenda, 
but  should  simply  seek  to  facilitate  what  the 
people  of  a  community  already  want. 

This  emphasis  on  developing  the  capac- 
ity and  voice  of  local  leaders  and  communi- 
ties, however,  took  some  strange  turns.  By 
supposedly  not  bringing  outside  values  or 
politics  to  the  organizations,  some  groups 
founded  on  the  Alinsky  method,  such  as  his 
initial  Back  of  the  Yards  Council,  began  using 
their  organizations  for  unforeseen  ends,  such 
as  keeping  African  Americans  from  moving 
into  their  neighborhood.  And  by  downplay- 
ing issues  of  oppression  and  privilege  likely 
to  exist  within  organizations,  many  of  these 
groups  developed  intemal  racial  and  gen- 
der hierarchies.  Alinsky "s  own  politics  slid 
towards  conservatism,  going  from  fighting 
capitalism  in  Chicago  in  the  1930s  to  calling 
the  Black  Panthers  "thugs"  in  the  1960s. 

After  Alinsky  died  in  1972,  the  groups 
that  carried  on  with  ideas  he  pioneered  in- 
habited a  complex  and  mixed  legacy.  On  one 
hand,  activists  from  the  black,  student,  and 
women's  movements  used  the  Alinsky  frame- 
uork  to  craft  organizations  of  people  fighting 
in  their  collective  self-interest.  On  the  other, 
some  liberal  elites  like  Charles  Silberman  of 
Fortune  magazine  promoted  Alinskian  com- 
munity organizing  as  a  possible  reformist  al- 


ternative to  the  tide  of  insurrection  in  Ameri- 
ca's ghettos  and  campuses.  In  the  1970s,  the 
federal  govemment  actually  began  paying 
the  salaries  of  some  community  organizers 
through  the  VISTA  (Volunteers  in  Service  to 
America)  program.  This  tension,  between  ef- 
fective mass  organizing  and  politically  neu- 
tral clientelism,  has  existed  in  mainstream 
community  organizing  ever  since. 

The  Development  of  ACORN 

The  best  known  descendent  of  this  ambigu- 
ous organizing  legacy  emerged  from  the  wel- 
fare rights  stmggles  of  the  1970s.  At  the  time, 
the  balance  of  power  on  welfare  issues  in 
Congress  rested  with  the  Arkansas  represen- 
tative Wilbur  Mills,  head  of  the  House  Ways 
and  Means  Committee.  The  National  Welfare 
Rights  Organization  sent  the  young  welfare 
rights  organizer  Wade  Rathke  to  Arkansas  to 
try  to  put  together  a  popular  challenge  to  this 
politician  on  his  home  turf  "1  had  never  been 
to  Arkansas,  but  it  appealed  in  many  ways," 
Rathke  said.  "[The]  majority  of  [the]  popu- 
lation was  low  and  moderate  income,  capital 
and  largest  city  were  the  same  and  were  cen- 
trally located,  multi-racial  organization  was 
a  necessity,  and  so  forth."  The  group  Rathke 
built,  which  quickly  became  a  major  political 
power  in  Arkansas,  went  on  to  extend  itself 
nationwide  to  become  the  largest  and  most 
well-known  community  organizing  group  in 
the  country  —  the  Association  of  Community 
Organizations  for  Reform  Now,  or  ACORN. 
ACORN  moved  away  from  Alinsky 's 
approach  of  uniting  existing  organizations, 
and  towards  a  model  based  on  individual 
dues-paying  memberships  and  intensive 
door-to-door  recmitment.  By  perfecting  this 
model.  ACORN  was  able  to  grow  fiirther 
and  faster  than  any  comparable  group,  hav- 
ing today  spread  to  more  than  a  hundred  cit- 
ies with  more  than  200,000  dues-paying  low 
and  moderate-income  members.  With  such 
a  large  base,  ACORN  has  proved  capable  of 
winning  a  number  of  national  campaigns  on 
poor  peoples'  issues,  squatting  abandoned 


ISI 

o 
o 


buildings  to  demand  affordable  housing  pro- 
grams, and  starting  living  wage  campaigns  in 
cities  around  the  country. 

Maude  Hurd,  ACORN"s  national  presi- 
dent, describes  their  current  national  priori- 
ties as  predatory  lending,  better  schools,  and 
living  v\ages.  Down  at  the  grassroots  level, 
individual  neighborhood  chapters  organize 
and  protest  tor  anything  from  a  new  traffic 
light  to  better  street  sweeping  —  an  approach 
to  social  change  referred  to  either  proudly  or 
dismissively,  depending  on  your  perspective, 
as  "stop-sign  organizing." 

acorn's  growth  model  involves  con- 
tinuous membership  recruitment.  "Less  effec- 
tive groups  can  afford  to  depend  on  charitable 
foundations  to  fund  their  work.  We  can't," 
ACORN  lead  organizer  Jeff  Ordower  said. 
"We  win  battles  against  the  bankers  and  busi- 
nessmen who  sit  on  the  boards  of  grant-mak- 


with  the  Newark  Community  Union  Project 
[in  the  6()s],  we  had  a  major  campaign  around 
a  stop  sign  ourselves."  But  he  adds,  "when 
we  did  the  stop  sign  work,  we  did  try  to  bring 
people  into  a  broader  movement,  including 
very  active  anti-Vietnam  War  work." 

In  search  of  this  radical  but  realistic 
model,  the  Strategy  Center  Mann  works  with 
founded  the  Los  Angeles-based  Bus  Riders 
Union.  The  BRU  now  has  more  than  3.000 
dues-paying  members  and  50,000  supporters 
who  fight  for  better  mass  transit  and  public 
services  in  Los  Angeles.  It  is  also  an  explicith 
radical,  multilingual,  majority  people  of  color 
organization,  and  has  won  dozens  of  victories 
over  the  past  decade.  Unlike  most  commu- 
nity organizations,  activists  merge  traditional 
campaign  work  (like  protests  against  fare  in- 
creases) with  activities  like  popular  education 
about  the  Palestinian  struuele  and  marchinc 


ACORN  activists  rally  at  the  U.S.  Capitol  in  March  of  2004  to 
protest  the  Bush  administration's  education  funding  policies 


"We  win  battles  against  the  bankers  and  businessmen  who  sit  on  the  boards  of  grant-mak- 
ing institutions.  They're  not  going  to  fund  an  effective  challenge  to  their  power,  so  we  have 
to  get  most  of  our  funds  right  from  our  members." 


o 
o 

u 

> 
o 


ing  institutions.  They're  not  going  to  fund  an 
effective  challenge  to  their  power,  so  we  have 
to  get  most  of  our  funds  right  from  our  mem- 
bers." 

Young  Activists  Create  New  Models 

But  this  model  of  recruitment-driven  fiindrais- 
ing  calls  for  a  constantly  growing  pool  of  staff 
organizers  who  must  work  50  or  more  hours 
a  week,  knocking  doors  for  hours  every  day 
just  to  fund  their  own  salary.  The  low  wages 
—  around  S20,000  a  year  to  start  —  have  led 
many  to  leave  the  organization,  especially  af- 
ter ACORN  leaders  fought  organizers'  efforts 
to  unionize  and  get  better  working  conditions 
in  Philadelphia,  Seattle,  and  Dallas. 

Criticism  of  ACORN  extends  beyond 
the  workload  it  demands  of  its  paid  organizers 
to  the  ideology  behind  Alinsky's  organizing 
model.  For  instance,  a  hallmark  of  mainstream 
community  organizing  is  Alinsky's  belief  that 
organizers  should  be  apolitical,  simply  fa- 
cilitating what  the  community  already  wants, 
rather  than  bringing  an  outside  ideology  with 
them.  Eric  Mann,  director  of  the  Los  Ange- 
les-based Fius  Riders  Union,  said  such  tactics 
are  dishonest  and  manipulative,  and  believes 
it  is  the  reason  such  groups  often  fail  to  take 
on  bigger  issues  of  corporate  capitalism  and 
imperialism.  "We  cannot  build  a  movement 
ba.sed  on  isolated  projects... without  a  trans- 
formative view  of  the  world."  he  said. 

However,  unlike  some  other  radicals 
who  demean  "stop-sign  organizing"  as  not 
sufficiently  revolutionary,  Mann  is  search- 
ing for  a  model  between  big-picture  ideology 
and  nuts-and-bolts  \ ictories.  "When  I  worked 


in  anti-war  and  LGBT  (Lesbian/Gay/Bisexu- 
al/Transgender)  pride  marches. 

This  bigger-picture  outlook  has  attracted 
organizers  like  Kikanza  Ramsey,  who  writes, 
"For  my  own  sanity  I  needed  to  be  part  of 
something  that  would  use  my  outrage  at  my 
people's  oppression  to  make  significant  strides 
toward  justice."  She  adds,  "The  explicit  anti- 
capitalist,  antiracist,  multiracial,  pro-immi- 
grant, feminist  politics  of  the  Labor  Commu- 
nity Strategy  Center  in  Los  Angeles  attracted 
me  as  a  way  to  'go  back  to  my  community.'" 

Former  BRU  organizer  Da\e  McClure 
states  on  the  group's  web  site,  "We  were  not 
'merely'  trying  to  win  a  better  bus  system  for 
the  half  million  bus  riders  in  L.A.  (as  if  that 
weren't  big  enough).  I  was  also  helping  re- 
build a  left  multiracial  social  movement  led  by 
w  orking  class  people  to  transform  mass  transit, 
the  economy,  environmental  policy,  social  ser- 
vices —  major  structures  of  society." 

This  broader-based  model  has  become 
an  emerging  trend  in  community  organizing, 
especially  in  communities  of  color.  Delgado, 
the  historian  of  community  organizing,  wrote 
in.  Beyond  the  Polities  of  PUiee.  a  landmark 
mid-1990s  survey  of  more  than  6,000  CBOs. 
that  many  emerging  local  acti\  ists  of  color, 
not  having  access  to  organizing  theories  or 
past  practices,  have  developed  their  own 
strategies.  He  writes.  "These  organizers  had 
no  roadmap  or  model.  Nobody  told  them  that 
community  organizations  were  supposed  to 
be  strictly  local  and  devoid  of  ideology." 

Delgado  studied  examples  that  broke 
the  old  mainstream  Alinskian  model,  such  as 
Native  Action  in  Montana  (where  a  person's 
group  membership  was  part  of  tribal  historv. 


side  organizer  sold  door-to-door),  and  the 
Farm  Labor  Organizing  Committee  and  Black 
Workers  For  Justice  (both  groups  organizing 
workers  in  North  Carolina).  Delgado  identi- 
fied these  groups'  similarities  —  and  differ- 
ences from  traditional  Alinskian  organizing 
—  as  being  "a  wider  issue  base,  an  analytical 
perspective  grounded  in  race  relations,  and 
organizers  indigenous  to  the  community." 

Without  a  doubt,  community  organizing 
in  the  United  States  today  has  branched  off 
in  many  directions.  For  all  this  revision  and 
debate,  however,  the  picture  at  the  grassroots 
of  people  coming  together  to  fight  for  justice 
otlen  looks  surprisingly  similar  no  matter  the 
context.  From  meatpacking  families  in  Depres- 
sion-era Chicago  to  contemporary  bus  riders 
in  Southern  California,  the  work  of  building 
peoples'  power  always  involves  long  meetings 
in  humble  rooms,  loud  protests  by  ordinary' 
people,  and  thousands  of  hours  spent  knocking 
doors  or  riding  buses,  spreading  the  word  one 
person  at  a  time.  From  this  perspective,  groups 
as  diverse  as  ACORN,  the  Bus  Riders  Union, 
and  Black  Workers  for  Justice  do  all  belong 
to  the  same  tradition.  A  familv  tree  that  might 
fill  Its  ancestor  Saul  Alinskv  w  ith  surprise,  and 
perhaps  pride,  and  one  that  should  certainlv  fill 
elites  everywhere  with  fear,  it 

Jim  Siraiih  briefty  worked  at  an  organizer  for 
ACORX  in  Philadelphia  in  2000.  hut  quit  to  do 
AIDS  aelivism.  aeeordions.  ananhy  and  allit- 
eration. He  s  presently  moving  fhmi  the  south 
to  the  miihxest  for  work  av  a  union  organizer 
Email  him  atjinv<irauh{a  riseup.net  to  givefeed- 
haek,  order  his  zine.  or  tell  him  where  he  might 
find  good  eoffec  or  had  pop-pimk  in  Ohio. 


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Janta  Anita  I  a  Union 


BuitangKevolrtionary  Community  in  euatema" 


Santa  Anita  La  Union's  unique  deci- 
sion to  run  their  organic  coffee  es- 
tate collectively  was  not  difficult.  Dur- 
ing Guatemala's  36-year  civil  war,  the 
community's  members  learned  how  to 
work  together  —  whether  from  within 
the  ranks  of  the  guerilla  group,  the  Revo- 
lutionary Organization  of  the  People  in 
Arms,  or  in  refugee  camps  across  the 
Mexican  border  where  many  fled  perse- 
cution. Since  1998,  the  160  members  of 
Santa  Anita  from  33  ex-guerilla  families 
in  Guatemala  have  been  making  the  tran- 
sition from  armed  insurgents  to  a  peace- 
time community. 

words  and  photos  Caitlin  Benedetto 


One  of  Santa  Anita  la  Union's  main  streets  witti  banana  trees  and  volcanoes  in  the  background 

In  the  1940s,  after  a  period  of  military  dictatorship,  Guatemalans 
elected  President  Jacob  Arbenz.  He  and  his  successor  President 
Jose  Arevalo  instituted  a  land  reform  policy  giving  landless  peasants 
shares  of  land  from  United  Fruit,  a  U.S.  banana  company  that  owned 
60  percent  of  the  country's  arable  land.  The  United  States  enlisted  the 
CIA  to  overthrow  the  government  and  made  it  look  like  an  internal 
uprising  and  the  conflict  eventually  led  to  civil  war.  Three  guerilla 
groups  formed  and  many  guerillas  were  kidnapped  and  disappeared. 
The  new  regime  also  executed  a  "scorched  earth"  policy,  killing  all  the 
people  in  indigenous  villages  and  burning  everything  to  the  ground. 
In  total,  the  war  drove  100,000  people  into  exile  in  Mexico  and  at 
least  100,000  people  into  internal  displacement,  and  left  somewhere 
between  100,000  and  200,000  killed  and  40,000  missing. 


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•    i.iimunity  member  diagrammmg  the  different  wartime  revolutionary  groups  and  their  connections 

Santa  Anita's  members  were  left  landless  after  the  1 996  peace  accords. 
Returning  from  a  life  of  combat  in  the  mountains,  many  ex-guerillas 
and  their  families  discovered  that  military  personnel  and  civil  auto- 
defense  groups  had  taken  over  their  former  lands  or  relocated  other 
farmers  to  the  area. 

A  group  of  residents  decided  to  purchase  land  from  the  govern- 
ment with  the  help  of  the  Program  for  the  Support  of  Incorporation 
of  Ex-Guerillas,  a  program  sponsored  by  the  European  Union  which 
was  set  up  to  promote  projects  that  ex-combatants  could  rely  on  for 
economic  support.  They  bought  a  finca  (large  estate)  for  2,062,500 
quetzales  (over  S257,000)  in  1998,  with  a  12  percent  yearly  interest 
rate  and  10  years  to  pay  off  the  debt. 

The  community  decided  to  grow  coffee  because  \.\\q  finca  already 
iiad  some  of  the  needed  infrastructure  in  place  for  coffee  production. 
Their  land  is  in  the  country's  best  coffee-growing  region,  Guatemala's 
"boca  costa,"  near  the  Pacific  Coast. 


The  sign  leading  mio  me  commuiiiiy  .vnn  iin'  i.ii.iifin.ii.tii  KPvniurionary  uiiiiy  lor  URNG,  an  ex  guerrilla 
political  party)  symbol  of  corn  on  it 

After  .selling  the  coffee  locally  for  two  years,  the  community  switched 
to  selling  their  product  on  the  international  fair  trade  market.  Organic 
coffee  sells  on  the  fair  trade  market  at  S141  per  quiiilcil  (100  pounds), 
while  the  local  market  only  provides  300  qiwlzuk's  (S37)  per  ciiiin- 
lal.  However,  meeting  all  the  regulations  for  organic  certification  was 
costly  and  discouraging.  This  past  year's  crop  only  paid  for  10  months 
of  the  community's  living  expenses. 

liven  in  this  dilTicult  situation,  Santa  .Anita  is  faring  much  bet- 
ter than  most  agricultural  villages  in  (iuatemala.  "The  war  may  ha\e 
failed  to  bring  justice  to  the  people  of  Guatemala,  but  at  least  here  in 
Santa  Anita  it  has  succeeded,"  Rigoberto  Agustin  Ramirez  said  in  his 
usual  i)plimistic  and  spirited  tone.  Ramirez  is  on  the  current  directive 
committee  and  fought  in  combat  during  the  war. 


Children  at  school  in  Santa  Anita  la  Union 

Santa  Anita  La  Union's  structure  and  values  represent  what  the  Gua- 
temalan Revolutionary  Unity  movement  fought  to  create  for  36  years. 
All  community  members  are  invited  to  participate  in  the  Asamhiea, 
Santa  Anita's  highest  decision-making  body.  Meetings  can  last  days 
at  a  time.  The  finca  s  board  of  directors  must  alw  ays  be  50  percent 
\\  omen.  There  is  free  health  care  and  education  for  all.  and  the>  ensure 
that  their  products  are  organic  and  environmentally  friendly. 

Members  of  Santa  Anita,  speaking  Spanish  and  four  indigenous 
languages  (Mam.  Jacalteco,  Quiche,  and  Sipakapense).  hope  to  cre- 
ate a  rc\olutionar\  communitv  center  incorporating  the  surrounding 
\  illages,  thereby  focusing  not  only  on  their  own  children's  needs,  but 
also  on  the  needs  of  the  greater  rural  Guatemalan  population.  Unlike 
olher  fincas  in  the  area,  this  community  has  successfully  built  two 
schools,  a  medical  clinic,  and  a  iibrarv.  Despite  their  poverty,  Santa 
Anita  s  residents  are  discussing  etTective  ways  to  make  these  resourc- 
es available  to  the  surrounding  communities. 


Chave/ d 


ii^ni  ul  the  coffee  bushes  behind  their  homt; 


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Jacobo  Lopez  left  his  wife 
and  five  children  behind  in 
Santa  Anita  to  find  work  in  the 
United  States.  He  and  his  wife 
Angelina  Chavez  are  worried 
about  having  enough  money  to 
pay  for  their  children's  educa- 
tion. The  children  are  growing 
faster  than  the  finca  is.  Each 
community  member  receives 
S3. 50  for  a  day's  work.  The 
community  collectively  cov- 
ers water,  electricity,  and  basic 
medical  costs.  Lopez,  who  is 
50  years  old,  managed  to  get  to 
the  United  States,  but  is  hav- 
ing trouble  finding  work.  He 
calls  home  every  few  days  to 
let  Chavez  know  how  he  is  do- 
ing. Since  there  is  no  one  in  the 
family  working  on  the  finca, 
the  family  pays  200  quetzales 
(S25)  a  month  for  the  services 
generally  covered  collectively. 
Even  though  Chavez  remains 
active  in  all  community  affairs, 
she  says  some  of  her  compan- 
ions treat  her  with  disdain  for 
letting  her  husband  leave. 


The  aggression  of  the 
military  during  the 
war  left  innumerable 
mass  graves  in  its 
wake.  These  graves 
are  of  both  innocent 
villagers,  victims  of 
the  scorched  earth 
policy,  and  guerrilla 
combatants.  The  ef- 
forts to  find  these 
graves  and  identify 
the  dead  shape  the 
consciousness  of 
Guatemala  and  its 
national  identity.  On 
.luly  14,  Santa  Anita 
received  the  mortal 
remains  of  seven 
combatants  who  died 
20  years  ago.  Their 
clandestine  grave 
was  only  recently 
found  in  the  Depart- 
ment of  San  Marcos,  where  most  of  the  ex-guerrillas  of  Santa  Anita 
were  in  combat.  Only  one  of  the  deceased  was  related  to  current  Santa 
Anita  residents,  but  the  community  took  in  all  the  remains  because 
families  did  not  claim  them. 

Many  people  were  invited  to  the  vigil  that  night  and  the  mass 
burial  the  next  day.  The  community  bought  food  and  giiaro  (a  strong 
sugar  cane  liquor)  for  all  the  guests,  and  everyone  had  a  place  to  sleep. 
Many  community  members  spent  the  night  drinking,  crying,  and  shar- 
ing war  stories  while  keeping  vigil  over  the  coffins. 


The  internment  of  the  killed  combatants 


A  community  member  unclogging  pipes  from  one  of  the  natural  water  sources  on  the  finca 

One  of  the  auxiliary  projects  of  the  community  is  the  development 
of  agroecotourism  on  the  finca.  The  people  of  Santa  Anita  want  to 
take  advantage  of  their  identities  as  ex-combatants  farming  an  organic 
product  to  help  keep  \\\s  finca  financially  afloat.  Coffee  and  banana 
production  remains  the  main  focus,  "because  that  is  what  puts  food  in 
our  mouths  today,"  Ramirez  said. 

In  the  long  run,  however,  they  have  to  expand  to  pay  off"  debts. 
There  is  a  rising  level  of  urgency  to  pay  off  the  debt  because  the  gov- 
ernment has  started  to  throw  other  communities  offfincas  they  cannot 
pay  for.  The  kind  of  expansion  that  Santa  Anita  is  working  on  would 
create  job  opportunities  for  the  young  people  of  the  finca  who  are 
studying  a  wide  range  of  professions,  not  just  agriculture.  It  would 
also  make  it  easier  for  them  to  sell  their  coffee. 


Erik,  a  young  boy  at  school 

Another  important  reason  to  make  the  finca  more  open  to  foreign  visi- 
tors, Ramirez  said,  is  "to  show  the  world  that  we  are  not  trying  to  get 
out  of  working  by  asking  for  help.  We  ask  for  help  internationally 
because  our  requests  and  needs  fall  on  deaf  ears  with  our  government. 
We  ask  for  help  so  we  can  realize  our  community  vision." 

You  can  reach  Caitlin  Benedetto  care  of  infi3@clamormaazine.org 


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Up  a  River 


Activists  take  to  the  water  to  save  it. 

Charles  Winfrey 


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On  a  hot  Saturday  afternoon  in  July,  pe- 
destrians along  the  Nashville  waterfront 
were  treated  to  an  unusual  sight.  Instead  of 
a  riverboat  hauling  another  load  of  Musie 
City  tourists  to  Opryland.  canoes  and  kayaks, 
a  runabout  or  two,  and  even  a  sailboat  pep- 
pered the  dingy  water.  In  the  shadows  of  Ti- 
tan Stadium,  onlookers  gathered  to  cheer  the 
fleet  of  sinall  craft  —  all  bearing  a  message 
to  Tennessee's  governor  —  as  they  drifted 
past  the  downtown  docks  on  the  Cumberland 
River  and  mo\ed  to  the  opposite  shore. 

Both  the  welcoming  committee  and 
the  boaters  were  made  up  of  members  of 
Save  Our  Cumberland  Mountains  (SOCM, 
pronounced  "sock  'em")  and  the  Tennessee 
Scenic  Rivers  Association.  Across  the  river 
protesters  unfurled  a  50-foot  banner  that 
read.  "Gov.  Bredesen,  Don't  Let  Mining  Turn 
Rocky  Topless."  Mountaintop  strip  mining 
for  coal  has  come  to  Tennessee  and  SOCM.  a 
group  that  has  been  battling  the  worst  abuses 
of  King  Coal  for  over  30  years,  is  drawing  a 
line  in  the  sand. 

Earlier  this  year,  SOCM  members 
stopped  relying  on  regulators  with  the  federal 
Office  of  Surface  Mining  (OSM)  who  they 
believe  are  bent  on  encouraging,  not  control- 
ling, mountaintop  mining.  Instead,  they  de- 
cided to  call  on  Tennessee's  governor  to  order 
strict  enforcement  of  the  state's  water  qual- 
ity law,  a  once-powerful  weapon  in  efforts  to 
protect  streams  from  the  effects  of  large-scale 
mining  projects. 

That's  where  the  canoes  come  in.  Since 
strip  mine  run-off  in  mountain  streams  often 
flows  into  the  Cumberland  River  and  even- 
tually down  to  the  state's  capital,  Nashville. 
SOCM  members  decided  to  put  their  message 
in  a  bottle. 

Seven  teams  of  paddlers  carried  a  jug 
of  silt-laden  mine  water  391  miles  from 
Campbell  County  in  the  mountains  of  east- 
em  Tennessee  west  to  Nashville.  In  Ken- 
tucky, severe  storms  raked  the  river  for  three 
days  and  gale-force  winds  collapsed  boaters' 
tents.  After  16  days  on  the  river,  a  hundred 
other  boaters  joined  the  last  team  for  the  ttnal 
two  miles  into  downtown  Nashville.  Bobby 
Clark,  a  SOCM  member  who  li\es  without 
electricity  or  running  water  in  his  mounlani 
home,  traveled  the  entire  400  miles.  Upon  ar- 
rival. Clark  presented  the  symbolic  gallon  of 
polluted  water  to  Karen  Stachowski,  Deputy 
Commissioner  of  the  Tennessee  Department 
of  Hnvironment  and  Conser\ation. 

Mountaintop  mining  may  be  new  to  Ten- 
nessee, where  coal  is  generally  of  lower  qual- 
ity with  limited  demand,  but  it  is  old  news  in 
many  areas  of  the  Appalachian  region.  West 


Virginians  have  struggled  for  years  with  its 
devastating  effects,  watching  as  streams  rise 
to  new  levels  with  every  spring  flood,  causing 
millions  of  dollars  in  damage.  According  to  one 
report  released  by  the  group  Coal  River  Moun- 
tain Watch,  flooding  destroyed  over  1 .600  West 
Virginia  homes  in  2001  alone.  Many  residents 
blamed  the  severity  of  the  floods  on  the  eflect 
of  mountaintop  mining  on  watersheds.  News 
reports  in  the  Charleston  Gazette  and  other  pa- 
pers placed  the  damage  at  over  S200  million  in 
a  half  dozen  coal  counties. 


/  '    !n  the  news  media  while  canoes  continue  to 

arrive  oenina  ner  in  downtown  Nashville  Photo  by  Pun  Gere 

In  Tennessee,  the  coal  industry  and  fed- 
eral regulators  call  it  "cross-ridge  mining," 
referring  to  a  difference  in  where  the  removed 
land  is  dumped.  In  West  Virginia  the  practice 
has  been  to  chop  ofT  the  peaks  of  mountains 
to  reach  the  coal  and  relocate  the  overlying 
rocks  and  soil  to  hollows  and  \alleys  below. 
Instead,  in  Tennessee,  where  duinping  land 
directly  into  valleys  is  not  allowed,  the  extra 
land  called  "overburden"  is  mo\ed  around 
and  replaced  on  the  flat  bench  that  remains 
after  the  coal  is  removed. 

SOCM  activists,  who  suspect  the  change 
in  terminology  for  this  controversial  mining 
technique  is  politically  motivated,  contends 
the  overburden  won't  stay  put.  At  a  recent 
public  hearing  one  speaker  referred  to  the 
practice  as  "delayed  hollow  till,"  insisting 
that  the  loose  soil,  once  blasted  from  the 
mountaintop,  will  e\entually  wash  or  slide 
down  into  streams. 

In  1999.  opponents  of  mountaintop  min- 
ing won  a  major  victory  when  a  I'.S.  Dis- 
trict Court  ruled  that  the  practice  of  filling  in 
streams  with  spoil  from  mountaintop  mines 
violated  the  Clean  Water  Act.  The  decision 
was  overturned  on  a  technicality  and  an  ap- 
peal is  currently  pending. 

The  Bush  administration  responded  by 
proposing  a  rule  change  to  eliminate  a  21- 


year-old  restriction  against  dumping  spoil 
within  100  feet  of  streams.  Hundreds  of 
citizens  spoke  out  against  the  rule  change 
at  five  public  hearings  in  Washington  and 
Appalachia.  but  their  protests  were  ignored. 
A  pre-Bush  Department  of  Interior  study 
revealed  that,  even  with  the  100-foot  buf- 
fer zone,  mountaintop  mining  has  filled  in 
over  700  miles  —  equivalent  to  the  length 
of  California  —  streams  from  1985  to  2001. 
In  2003.  a  draft  environmental  impact  study 
by  the  Department  of  Interior  revealed  that 
o\  er  1 .200  miles  of  streams  have  now  been 
destroyed. 

Other  testimony  at  the  public  hearings 
focused  on  the  human  costs  of  mountain- 
top  mining.  One  woman  testified  that  her 
SI 44,000  home  has  been  devalued  to  a  tenth 
of  its  original  cost  due  to  blasting  and  dust 
from  a  nearby  mine.  She  and  her  neighbors  in 
Sylvester,  West  Virginia  successfully  sued  the 
company  for  damages  but  she  said  the  com- 
munity will  never  recover. 

Tennessee's  Department  of  Environ- 
ment and  Conservation  was  the  only  state 
agency  to  go  on  record  as  opposing  the 
change  in  federal  regulations  to  eliminate 
the  buffer  zone. 

H.  E.  Heam.  president  of  the  Tennessee 
Coal  Association  defends  mountaintop  min- 
ing as  an  efficient,  environmentally  sound 
way  to  get  coal.  "If  you  want  your  lights 
to  come  on,  you  better  have  coal  mining," 
Heam  said.  "The  real  issue  is  not  mountain- 
top  removal,  it's  valley  fill.  That's  something 
that  is  not  permitted  in  the  state  of  Tennes- 
see." 

Valley  fill  ma>  not  be  pennitted.  but 
SOCM  contends  that  once  federal  inspectors 
begin  ignoring  the  100-foot  buffer  protecting 
streams,  any  mining  that  completely  removes 
a  mountaintop  will  hav  e  disastrous  effects  on 
water  quality. 

The  first  pemiit  for  a  major  mountain- 
top  operation  in  Tennessee  was  approv  cd  last 
year.  At  a  public  hearing  held  in  the  commu- 
nity bv  the  federal  Office  of  Surface  Mining 
all  but  one  of  the  30-plus  speakers  opposed 
the  mine.  Ignoring  the  protests,  OSM  granted 
the  2.000-acre  pemiit  to  remove  the  top  of 
Zeb  Mountain.  OSM  and  state  water  qual- 
ity inspectors  have  since  written  up  the  mine 
for  a  number  of  water  qualitv  v  iolations  and 
temporarily  closed  it  when  the  haul  road  col- 
lapsed into  the  vallev  below. 

State  officials  insist  that  the  current  level 
of  enforcement  is  adequate  to  protect  water 
resources,  yet  on  the  very  day  that  the  SOCM 
fleet  arrived  in  Na.shvillc.  the  Water  Quality 
Board  lowered  a  fine  against  the  Zeb  Moun- 


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tain  operation  from  SI 5,000  to  $5,250.  SOCM  mem- 
bers claim  such  treatment  amounts  to  a  slap  on  the 
wrist  and  only  encourages  future  violations. 

Meanwhile,  the  Tennessee  Valley  Authority,  the 
region's  major  utility,  announced  plans  last  year  to 
consider  cross-ridge  mining  of  nearly  60,000  acres 
of  TVA-owned  coal  underlying  the  state's  Royal 
Blue  Wildlife  Management  Area.  Most  of  that  coal 
is  in  the  watershed  of  the  Big  South  Fork  National 
River  &  Recreation  Area.  The  Big  South  Fork  carves 
a  series  of  majestic  canyons  along  its  course  from 
Tennessee  into  Kentucky,  attracting  over  750,000 
visitors  annually. 

"The  river  is  home  to  a  number  of  sensitive  spe- 
cies, including  endangered  mussels  that  are  the  first 
to  be  affected  by  a  change  in  water  quality,"  Don 
Barger,  Southeastern  Director  of  the  National  Parks 
Conservation  Association,  said.  Concerned  about 
the  effect  widespread  mountaintop  mining  will  have 
on  water  quality,  Barger  is  anxiously  awaiting  the 
completion  of  a  TVA  environmental  impact  study  in 
the  fall.  The  agency  proposes  to  remove  coal  from 
13  separate  mountain  peaks  in  the  Big  South  Fork 
watershed. 

SOCM  is  aware  that  the  400-mile  river  relay  is 
only  the  first  step  in  what  may  prove  to  be  a  long 
battle.  Tennessee's  Governor  Phil  Brcdcscn  told 
reporters  that  he  knows  nothing  about  the  issue  of 
mountaintop  mining  but  is  willing  to  discuss  it. 

"He  may  not  realize  it,"  Ann  League,  who  lives 
near  Zeb  Mountain,  said,  "but  the  water  that  gets  pol- 
luted by  mountaintop  removal  here  will  end  up  in  the 
Governor's  back  yard." 

Holding  up  the  jug  of  mine  water.  League  add- 
ed, "Nashville  is  about  400  river  miles  from  here 
but  it  is  where  the  problem  of  mountaintop  removal 
eventually  ends  up.  it  is  also  where  we  want  to  see 
the  solution  come  from." 

Although  neither  had  much  experience  in  a 
canoe.  League  and  neighbor  Charles  Blankenship 
wanted  to  do  their  part.  They  joined  several  veteran 
Whitewater  paddlers  for  the  35  miles  of  the  Big  South 
Fork  from  near  their  homes  to  Lake  Cumberland  in 
Kentucky. 

It  wasn't  easy.  Swollen  by  recent  rains,  the  river 
was  lively  for  this  time  of  year.  The  group  spent  a 
backbreaking  hour  carrying  canoes  and  gear  around 
dangerous  rapids,  then  encountered  an  unexpectedly 
rough  section  downstream.  League's  heavily  loaded 
canoe  took  too  much  water  and  she  ended  up  swim- 
ming. 

"But  we  saved  the  water,"  League  beamed  as 
she  held  up  the  jug  of  polluted  mine  water,  the  pre- 
cious cargo  secured  with  rope  to  her  canoe.  '6' 

Charles  "Boomer"  Winfi-ey  is  a  longtime  mountain  ac- 
tivist and  former  organizer  with  Save  Our  Cumberland 
Mountains.  For  the  past  23  years  he  has  worked  as  an 
East  Tennessee  journalist  and  newspaper  editor 


[Ulfiiillntelly  [gf^fc 


Nathan  Berg  mixed  punk  rock 
and  politics  and  got 
the  key  to  the  city 


I  was  born  and  raised  in  the  small  Wiscon- 
sin city  of  Chippewa  Falls.  While  it  was  a 
charming  place,  surrounded  by  beautiful 
lakes  and  woods,  it  was  not  an  exciting 
place  to  grow  up.  We  had  no  movie  the- 
ater, no  all-ages  hangout,  no  kid-based 
activities  to  speak  of  that  weren't  related 
to  after-school  events. 

Despite  this  cultural  emptiness  —  or 
perhaps  because  of  it  —  I  took  a  strong 
interest  in  the  politics  outside  of  my  se- 
cluded little  town.  The  more  I  learned,  the 
more  I  came  to  challenge  assumptions  I 
was  taught,  not  by  my  parents  (though  I 
challenged  those  too),  but  by  my  highly 
conservative,  diversity-dephved  sur- 
roundings. By  my  late  teens,  I  was  a  veg- 
etarian, anti-corporate,  environmentally 
minded,  punk  music-listening  political 
activist. 

From  afar,  I  had  long  admired  ac- 
tivists around  the  United  States  who  ran 
for  political  office  as  a  means  of  protest. 
Some  used  the  forum  to  bring  issues  to 
light  that  would  have  otherwise  gone  un- 
mentioned.  Others  turned  their  campaigns 
into  large-scale  pranks  they  used  to  make 
a  mockery  of  the  election  process  itself. 
Both  tactics  seemed  to  be  equally  effec- 
tive and  entertaining.  So  when  I  noticed  a 
blurb  in  our  local  newspaper  about  how 
no  one  had  yet  gotten  on  the  ballot  for  my 
ward  in  our  upcoming  city  council  elec- 
tions, I  took  notice. 

However,  it  took  the  further  convinc- 
ing of  my  friends  and  family  before  I  de- 
cided to  run  because,  being  unopposed, 
I  was  pretty  much  assured  a  victory.  Two 
months  later  I  was  sworn  in  as  alderman. 

I  soon  realized  that  being  a  22- 
year-old  punk  rock  city  council  member 
in  a  conservative  town  was  not  nearly  as 
cool  as  it  might  sound.  The  overwhelming 
majority  of  the  city  council's  work  was  ex- 
tremely mundane  and  non-controversial. 
I  found  myself  sitting  through  two-hour 
long  meetings  about  whether  three  park- 
ing spaces  should  change  from  four-hour 
to  two-hour  or  whether  to  purchase  a  new 
chair  for  the  city  clerk's  office. 

When  controversy  did  arise,  as  it 
did  on  occasion,  I  was  continually  out- 
numbered by  my  fellow  council  members 
and  cast  the  lone  vote  on  many  issues. 
Our  local  newspaper,  the  only  link  be- 
tween the  public  and  the  city  council,  also 


refused  to  print  almost  anything  serious 
that  I  said. 

During  my  term,  a  few  big  issues 
came  before  the  council.  The  state 
planned  to  convert  a  local  treatment 
center  for  the  developmentally  disabled 
(which  it  had  planned  on  closing)  into 
a  geriatric  prison.  Only  two  years  ear- 
lier, Chippewa  Falls'  residents  had  voted 
against  a  Supermax  prison  in  a  city-wide 
referendum.  Despite  this,  local  officials 
were  under  pressure  to  convert  the  cen- 
ter into  a  prison  to  avoid  the  sting  of  lost 
jobs.  After  a  lengthy  battle,  including  one 
meeting  where  I  had  to  give  an  anti-pris- 
on speech  in  front  of  hundreds  of  citizens, 
the  call  for  a  referendum  was  defeated  4- 
3  and  the  prison  approved  5-2. 

Victories  were  few  and  far  between. 
At  the  end  of  my  two-year  term,  a  bike 
trail  system  and  a  skate  park  were  about 
the  only  things  I  could  safely  list  as  ac- 
complishments. 

When  people  ask  me  what  it  was  like 
to  be  on  the  Chippewa  Falls  City  Council, 
I  typically  tell  them,  "I  learned  a  lot,"  but 
that's  only  partially  true.  The  biggest  les- 
sons were  things  that  I  already  knew  all 
too  well:  politics  is  yucky  business,  you 
can't  trust  the  media,  and  ignorance  is 
excessively  prominent  in  our  society. 

While  I  would  say  the  experience 
was  mostly  negative,  it  was  interesting.  I 
still  believe  that  local  government  has  the 
potential  to  be  the  most  democratfc  form 
of  government  we  have  in  this  country. 
But  if  you're  planning  on  running  for  local 
office  yourself,  make  sure  you  have  allies 
who  can  help  you  make 
serious  positive 
changes  for  your 
community.  Be- 
ing a  black  sheep 
in  this  arena 
doesn't  get  much 
accomplished, 
makes  you  easy 
to  ignore,  and 
adds  a  whole  lot 
of  frustration  to 
your  life.   tV 


o 
o 

N 
Ul 


ORGANIZE! 


The  Association  of  Community  Organizations 
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GO 


Jennifer  Vandenplas 

Growing  Power 


Settled  amid  rows  of  urban  housing  and  apartment  buildings  on 
a  busy  thoroughfare  of  Milwaukee's  north  side  is  the  Grow- 
ing Power  Community  Food  Center.  What  at  first  glance  appears 
to  be  a  modest  roadside  produce  market  and  aging  greenhouse  — 
the  last  of  its  kind,  standing  in  an  area  that  was  once  the  thriving 
agricultural  center  of  the  city  known  as  Greenhouse  Alley  —  is 
a  pioneer  meeting  place  and  educational  facility,  committed  not 
only  to  growing  food  but  also  to  growing  communities. 

Nine  years  ago.  Will  Allen,  a  local  farmer  and  co-director  of  Grow  ing  Power,  Inc.,  tapped 
into  a  movement  that  was  emerging  from  beneath  the  shadows  of  waxy  apple  towers  and  pallid 
wilted  greens  of  mega-markets  across  the  nation.  However,  the  vision  of  providing  a  commu- 
nity-based education  center  was  never  a  part  of  his  original  plan.  "I  bought  this  place  for  my 
own  selfish  reasons,  to  sell  my  farm  produce,"  he  explains.  His  main  desire  was  to  expose  his 
family  to  the  pride  and  integrity  he  associated  with  farming,  as  he  had  experienced  it  first-hand 
as  a  child  growing  up  in  niral  Maryland. 

But  in  the  face  of  agribusiness  bent  toward  monopolization  of  food  production  and  dis- 
tribution, the  need  to  shift  the  paradigm  back  to  sustainable  local  agriculture  was  clear.  In 
1995,  Growing  Power  opened  its  doors  to  the  people  of  Milwaukee  and  neighboring  rural 
communities,  to  educate  them  in  ways  to  work  together  to  bring  locally  grown  foods  back  to 
their  tables. 

Growing  Power  offers  public  onsite  training  in  sustainable  agriculture  systeins,  including 
aquaponics,  nutrient  cycling  systems,  livestock  care,  and  a  biological  worm  growing  system. 
"We  will  have  a  college  professor  standing  next  to  a  fanner  standing  next  to  a  10-year-old 
youth  learning  to  do  the  same  thing,  because  you're  all  at  the  same  level  when  it  comes  to 
hands-on  [work].  This  diversity  that  we  create  is  very  important  to  me  and  this  work  that  we 
do." 

Making  the  Connection 

Three  years  ago.  University  of  Milwaukee  instructor  Amy  Callahan  strolled  down  the  aisle  of 
a  neighborhood  grocery  store,  her  baby  Joe  on  her  hip,  picking  up  ingredients  to  complete  the 
family's  menu  for  the  week.  Checking  the  expiration  date  on  a  carton  of  cage-free  eggs,  her 
eyed  lingered  a  moment  over  the  block-font  letters  identifying  the  eggs"  city  of  origin:  New 
Jersey.  "How  long  did  it  take  for  them  to  get  here,  and  who  handled  them  along  the  way?"  she 
wondered. 

Nearly  40  years  ago,  amid  similar  concerns  over  the  increase  in  imported  foods,  the  con- 
sistent loss  of  farmland  to  development,  and  the  migration  of  farmers  to  the  cities,  a  group  of 
homemakers  in  Kobe,  Japan,  approached  a  local  farmer  with  a  request  to  provide  fresh,  organi- 
cally grown  produce  to  the  families  in  their  village.  In  exchange  for  the  farmer's  commitment 
to  the  community,  they  were  provided  with  advance  "subscription"  funds,  to  assist  with  the 
purchase  of  the  materials  required  in  order  to  plant  the  season's  first  crops. 

The  movement  of  Community  Supported  Agriculture  (CSA)  made  its  way  to  the  United 
States  in  1985  and  has  been  steadily  developing  in  a  variety  of  approaches  across  the  country. 
A  CSA  farm  may  exclusively  or  collectively  offer  garden  produce,  eggs  and  dairy,  meats  and 
poultry,  honey  or  flowers.  The  land  may  be  managed  by  cooperative  of  workers,  a  single  fam- 
ily or,  as  in  the  case  of  Laura  Jean  Comerford,  an  individual. 


Comerford  is  the  sole  proprietor  of 
Backyard  Bounty,  located  in  Plymouth,  Wis- 
consin, about  an  hour  outside  of  the  city  of 
Milwaukee.  Growing  Power  works  with 
farmers  like  Comerford  through  its  contribu- 
tions toward  the  organization  of  The  Rainbow 
Farmers  Cooperative,  a  group  of  nearly  100 
local  fanners  dedicated  to  keeping  small  fam- 
ily farms  from  being  eradicated  by  increasing 
production  costs,  growing  inaccessibility  to 
credit  resources,  and  the  increasing  competi- 
tion from  mega-farms  and  mono-agriculture. 
This  collective  CSA  approach  connects  rural 
farmers  and  city  residents  w  ithout  the  intense 
and  direct  need  to  market  individually  and  of- 
fers the  community  a  wide  range  of  products 
from  several  specialty  growers. 

Earlier  this  year,  a  group  of  city  residents 
volunteered  to  help  Comerford  erect  a  green- 
house so  that  she  would  be  able  to  extend  her 
growing  season  into  the  cold  winter  months. 
The  benefit  of  the  work  of  a  few  individuals 
on  a  single  afternoon  will  resound  with  each 
year's  supplemental  yield  of  vegetables  that 
escape  the  season-ending  frost. 

Community  Supported  Agriculture 
helps  to  strengthen  local  economies  by  keep- 
ing food  dollars  within  a  community;  pro- 
ducers and  consumers  are  directly  linked,  al- 
lowing people  to  have  a  personal  connection 
with  their  food  and  the  land  on  which  it  was 
produced.  Community  members  commit  to 
a  particular  farm  in  the  late  winter  and  early 
spring  by  purchasing  an  advance  share  of  the 
produce  the  farmer  intends  to  grow.  A  com- 
mitment to  working  a  set  number  of  hours  on 
the  farm  is  often  accepted  in  lieu  of  cash  pay- 
ment. In  return,  shareholders  are  rewarded 
with  weekly  deliveries  of  organic,  responsi- 
bly grown  foods  freshly  picked  that  morning. 
The  first  delivery  of  fresh  strawberries,  rhu- 
barb, peas,  and  herbs  arrive  in  early  June  and 
continue  through  the  first  frosts  in  autumn. 

Callahan  and  her  family  now  enjoy 
weekly  deliveries  of  fresh  produce  and  eggs 
from  a  family  farm  just  outside  of  the  city.  "I 
like  the  idea  of  having  one  person,  or  a  fam- 
ily, or  a  cooperative  —  an  extended  family,  if 
you  will  —  handling  the  produce.   They  put 


o 
o 

N 


above,  youth  workers  lend  to  the  Gallery  37  site  in  Chicago.  Gallery  37  is  an  oper)  block  in  the  middle  of  downtown,  on  which  Growing  Power  has  installed  a  garden.  Youth  groups  were  highly 
involved  In  installing,  harvesting,  and  selling  the  harvest  at  the  market. 


o 
o 
rsj 


it  in  the  ground,  they  take  it  out,  it  goes  in  the 
box,  and  it  comes  to  me.  That's  very  appeal- 
ing." 

Breaking  Urban  Ground 

Back  in  the  city,  urban  fanning  is  finding  its 
place  in  the  scheme  of  sustainable  agriculture 
and  community  building. 

In  an  effort  to  revitalize  a  rapidly  declin- 
ing and  neglected  neighborhood  known  as 
Walnut  Way,  Sharon  and  Larry  Adams  took 
the  energy  and  inspiration  from  a  Growing 
Power  forum  on  urban  fanning  to  transform 
brown  vacant  lots  into  verdant  patches  brim- 
ming with  fresh  flowers,  kale,  cabbage,  and 
collard  greens.  The  resulting  Walnut  Way 
Conser\ation  Corp.  is  the  first  group  of  its 
kind  to  get  perpetual  possession  of  the  three 
lots  and  two  houses  from  the  city  of  Milwau- 
kee. 

Bobbie  Evans,  a  member  of  the  Wal- 
nut Way  community  for  20  years,  regularly 
participates  in  the  maintenance  of  these  gar- 
Jens  "It's  given  me  a  peace  of  mind,  it  helps 
me  put  something  back  into  the  community, 
shous  the  kids  I'm  doing  something  posiii\e 
for  the  neighborhood."  Since  the  gardens 
have  mo\ed  into  the  community,  pride  in  the 
restoration  and  maintenance  of  the  ncigh- 
borhooil  has  cauuht  on.  as  manv  of  the  ilruu 


houses  have  been  shut  down  and  formerly  lit- 
tered streets  cleared. 

In  addition  to  the  transfomiation  and  re- 
mediation of  vacant  lots.  Growing  Power  has 
developed  innovative  techniques  for  garden- 
ing without  digging  into  the  ground.  Demon- 
strations of  window  urban  gardening,  a  sys- 
tem of  building  long  raised  channels  of  rich 
soil  on  top  of  asphalt,  have  started  to  appear 
in  empty  parking  lots  and  mid-city  concrete 
blocks  in  Milwaukee.  Chicago.  Neu  'S'ork. 
and  Boston. 

Tomorrow's  Farmers 

Last  year  o\er  2,000  \isitors  from  around 
the  city,  across  the  country,  and  three  conti- 
nents came  to  the  Cirovving  Power  Commu- 
nity Food  Center  for  hands-on  training  and 
guided  educational  tours.  Among  them  were 
a  group  of  teachers  from  .lapan.  members  of 
Heifer  International,  and  representatnes  from 
the  National  Resource  and  Conserv  alion  Ser- 
vice-USDA  Civil  Rights  Division,  all  shanng 
a  common  interest  in  promoting  sustainable 
local  agriculture. 

Growing  Power  recenlly  hired  a  nutri- 
tionist with  the  intention  of  launching  a  train- 
ing and  evaluation  program  for  afier-school 
meals,  with  the  hope  of  becoming  a  national 
model  for  schools  and  communitv -based  or- 


ganizations w  ith  afier-school  programs.  The 
tbods  provided  will  come  from  small  family 
farms. 

Although  introducing  technical  ways 
and  means  to  improve  current  agricultural 
practices  are  integral  parts  of  the  movement 
toward  urban  farming  and  communitv  sup- 
ported agriculture,  it  is  the  impression  of  hope 
and  energy  that  prev  ails.  "W  hen  people  come 
here,  probably  one  of  the  most  powerful  things 
about  this  place  is  not  me  talking  to  people,  it 
is  when  people  come  in  here  and  start  kwk- 
ing  around,  start  looking  at  the  systems,  and 
they  get  excited,  then  they  want  to  do  some- 
thing." says  Allen.  "So  when  they  leave  here, 
my  goal  is.  not  how  much  is  learned,  they  can 
get  a  lot  of  that  stutTin  schools,  but  the  mam 
thing  is  for  them  to  leave  here  excited  about 
starting  their  project,  because  that  is  the  hard- 
est thing  to  do."  In  short,  "The  idea  is  to  get 
tliem  to  put  the  shove!  in  the  ground."  if 

Jennifer  I'anJenplas  is  a  gnnindeJ  traveler 
nriiinji  fnmt  \fKE.  ii'l  USA. 


O 


A  Room  of  Their  Own 

It's  the  people  that  make  Port  Townsend's 
best-kept  secret  so  unique. 


HBBEI 


sarah  contrary  photos  Jesse  Vohs 


Port  Townsend,  Washington  is  not  what  you'd  call  a  punk 
town.  We're  famous  for  our  Victorian  architecture  and  big 
pretty  parks  and  dinky  tourist  shops.  But  like  most  small 
towns,  there's  a  wealth  of  secrets  that  the  tourists  don't  see.  One  of 
those  secrets  is  the  Boiler  Room.  The  Boiler  Room  describes  itself 
as  "a  youth-oriented  and  community-owned  coffeehouse  providing 
a  venue  for  growth,  learning  and  the  empowerment  of  individuals  in 
their  community"  —  and  it's  more  than  just  grant  writing  rhetoric. 
Walk  into  the  Boiler  Room,  and  the  first  thing  you'll  probably  notice 
is  the  kids.  Lurking  around  on  the  sidewalk,  with  the  sullen  smirks 
and  multicolored  hair  of  marginalized  small-town  teens  everywhere, 
clutching  their  paper  cups  of  coffee  and  smoking  cigarettes  someone 
else  had  to  buy  for  them.  Maybe  they'll  inspire  in  you  a  little  surge 
of  nostalgia  for  your  own  painful  and  ugly  adolescence,  all  your  out- 
landish fashions  and  thrashy  music,  all  the  nights  you  spent  sulking 
in  grocery-store  parking  lots  with  your  friends  waiting  for  something 
to  happen,  waiting  to  get  old  enough  to  leave. 

Walk  in  on  a  Sunday  afternoon  and  you  may  be  offered  a  bowl 
of  soup  by  the  kids  who  run  the  weekly  soup  kitchen.  Tuesday  night 
is  zine  night,  Thursday  night  is  open  mic,  Sunday  night  is  movie 
night  —  the  whole  thing  is  organized  by  the  kids.  "I  wanted  to  start 
a  zine  library  and  they  were  totally  open  to  the  idea,"  says  Chloe, 
Boiler  Room  zine  librarian,  volunteer  barista  and  self-described 
"windowseat  frequenter."  "The  house  carpenter  [who  serves  double 
duty  as  the  music  coordinator's  dad]  buih  a  shelf  right  away  and 
other  people  brought  in  zines  for  the  library.  The  Boiler  Room  is  a 
great  incubator  for  ideas  because  they're  very  supportive." 

The  Boiler  Room  has  been  around  for  a  decade.  Solo  musician 
and  Moldy  Peaches  frontwoman  Kimya  Dawson,  a  Port  Townsend 
expatriate,  has  watched  the  Boiler  Room  grow  from  a  hole-in-the- 
wall  basement  coffee  shop  to  its  present  location  in  a  storefront  up- 
town. "I've  been  hanging  out  here  for  thirteen  years  and  it's  different 
kids,  some  of  the  same  kids;  but  it's  pretty  much  the  same  thing," 
she  says.  "Some  years  kids  have  to  work  a  little  harder  to  main- 
tain a  space  for  themselves.  Sometimes  it's  established  already  and 
they're  just  so  used  to  having  something  like  the  Boiler  Room  that 
they  don't  realize  what  a  special  thing  that  is.  It's  just  a  cycle.  They 
take  it  for  granted,  it  deteriorates  and  then  they  build  it  up  again." 

These  days  the  Boiler  Room  is  surrounded  by  upscale  breakfast 
joints  and  fancy  bakeries.  It's  maybe  the  last  cool  thing  in  my  tiny 
town,  the  one  bastion  of  earthy  funkiness  in  a  place  quickly  becom- 
ing overrun  by  rich  retirees  and  high-rolling  tourists.  For  the  past  de- 
cade the  Boiler  Room  has  been  run  by  kids,  for  kids;  and  though  half 
the  time  it's  at  war  with  a  township  hell-bent  on  remaking  itself  as  a 
monument  to  an  invented  past,  somehow  the  Boiler  Room  has  sur- 
vived, remaining  a  haven  for  tiny  green-haired  youth  in  their  tattered 
black  jackets,  a  life  raft  in  a  sea  of  pseudo- Victorian  architecture. 

To  most  of  the  people  who  hang  out  there,  who  grew  up  throw- 
ing shows  on  the  tiny  stage  or  writing  tortured  poetry  late  at  night  on 
the  sidewalk,  the  Boiler  Room  is  a  hell  of  a  lot  more  than  a  coffee 
shop.  It's  a  safe  place,  a  little  patch  of  love.  Sometimes  the  coffee's 
not  so  great  and  the  service  is  a  little  surly.  The  art  on  the  walls  isn't 
always  awe-inspiring  and  the  bands  are  often  out  of  tunc;  but  that's 
the  best  part:  You  are  being  invited  in  to  a  space  that  isn't  yours,  a 
space  removed  from  the  demands  and  vagaries  of  adults,  and  if  you 
don't  like  it  you  are  more  than  welcome  to  leave.  The  decisions  are 
not  yours  to  make.  If  you  want  to  have  an  art  show,  the  kids  will  put 
your  art  on  the  walls.  If  you  want  to  start  a  band,  they'll  let  you  play  a 
show.  If  you  want  to  sit  at  a  table  all  day  drinking  coffee  and  talking 
to  yourself,  no  one  will  look  at  you  twice.  The  kids  will  let  you  come 
on  in  and  hang  out  for  as  long  as  you  want,  as  long  as  you  leave  them 
alone  and  let  them  run  their  coffee  shop.  "sV 

sarah  contrary  edits  the  zine  glossolalia,  available  online  at 

www.  clamor  magazine,  org.  Email  her  at  enormajean@hotmail.  com 


O 


W 


S\  ©lffiffi)ll[I%  Dil  [JDlMliM 


Hawk  and  YInka  with  students  at  the  Forum  for  African  Women  Educatio' 


Working  with  the 
Trauma  Victims  of  Sierra  Leone 


A  dozen  or  so  men  sat  around  a  large  table 
in  Harlem,  all  from  Sierra  Leone,  the 
war-torn  nation  in  West  Africa.  Some  had 
been  in  New  York  for  a  few  weeks,  others  a 
few  years.  The  recent  arrivals,  poor  and  ille- 
gal, carried  with  them  the  scene  of  the  crime: 
a  land  in  which  thousands  of  people  were 
killed,  tortured,  robbed,  raped,  and  displaced 
in  the  eleven-year  civil  war  that  had  ravaged 
their  country  since  1991 .  People  slowly  stood 
up  and  introduced  themselves.  One  man  gave 
a  report  on  conditions  back  home.  Another 
announced  plans  for  a  local  summer  camp 
for  Sierra  Leonean  children.  A  shy  newcomer 
hesitated  to  speak  at  first,  and  was  welcomed 
in  Krio  {ihc  native  language  of  Sierra  Lconc), 
which  encouraged  him  to  relax  and  say  a  few 
words. 

For  the  members  of  ,\a  lie  Ydhc,  a  sup- 
port group  for  Sierra  Leonean  emigres,  these 
meetings  are  a  homecoming  of  sorts,  a  safe 
ha\  en.  a  piece  of  Sierra  Lconc  transplanted 


to  Harlem.  Dr.  Yinka  Akinsulure  Smith  and 
her  husband.  Dr.  Hawthorne  "Hawk"  Smith, 
both  psychologists  at  the  Bellevue/New  York 
University  Program  For  Survivors  of  Tor- 
ture, have  been  working  with  survivors  of 
Sierra  Leone's  civil  war  since  1995.  "There 
were  only  a  few  Sierra  Leoneans  at  the  be- 
ginning," said  Hawk,  an  African-American 
originally  from  Philadelphia.  "But  as  the 
civil  war  intensified,  we  were  seeing  more 
and  more  Sierra  Leoneans  coming  for  treat- 
ment. They  came  with  nothing.  Something 
needed  to  be  done  beyond  the  clinical  work 
we  were  doing."  The  couple  founded  \cili 
He  Yone  (The  name  means  "This  is  Ours"  in 
Krio)in  1997. 

"The  big  thing  we  do  at  \ah  He  Yone." 
Yinka  said,  "is  to  give  back  to  Sierra  Leone- 
ans a  sense  of  community.  People  share  the 
same  language,  the  same  food,  the  same  his- 
tory. They  feel  a  sense  of  the  identiu  thc> 
have  lost." 


<    Robert  Hirschfield 

Safe  havens  are  a  part  of  Haw  k"s  family 
history.  His  grandparents  in  Marvland  ran  a 
home  for  homeless  African- American  chil- 
dren during  the  Depression.  His  father,  a  suc- 
cessful artist,  grew  up  in  that  extended  family, 
variations  of  which  Hawk  would  later  find  in 
Sierra  Leone,  where  people  took  in  those  who 
had  lost  e\  crything  in  the  war. 

By  contrast.  Yinka "s  famiK  her  fa- 
ther was  a  psychologist,  her  mother  a  librar- 
ian was  one  of  the  many  bnitali/cd  by  the 
war.  Some  were  killed,  some  had  their  homes 
burned  down  when  the  rebels  stormed  the 
capital  Frcctow  n.  ^'inka  recalled  the  misguid- 
ed optimism  surrounding  the  founding  of  the 
RUF  (Revolutionary  United  Front.)  "It  was 
supposed  to  be  a  movement  'for  the  people, 
by  the  people.  " 

Beginning  with  the  intention  to  over- 
throw the  comipt  .Ml  Peoples  Congress  gov- 
ernment of  Joseph  Momo  and  led  by  one-time 
photographer  Fodav  Sankoh.  the  movement 


quickly  degenerated  into  an  army  of  thugs 
that  swept  across  rural  Sierra  Leone  and  en- 
gulfed Freetown  in  1999  before  being  pushed 
back  by  the  troops  of  ECOMOG  (the  West 
African  peace-keeping  contingent,  also  cited 
for  human  rights  abuses).  A  British-led  U.N. 
peacekeeping  force  finally  brought  an  end  to 
the  war. 

Yinka  and  Hawk  tried  to  explain  the 
unexplainable.  Sierra  Leone  was  noted  for 
its  history  of  tribal  and  religious  harmony.  It 
was  one  of  the  more  stable  countries  in  West 
Africa.  (Rebels  from  the  Liberian  civil  war 
crossed  over  into  Sierra  Leone  to  fight  with 
the  RUF.) 

"In  the  case  of  the  RUF,  we  can  see 
how  the  nature  of  war  has  changed,"  Hawk 
reflected.  "The  conventional  wisdom  used  to 
be  that  by  defeating  the  opposing  army,  you 
control  the  population.  Now,  it  seems,  if  you 
control  and  dominate  the  civilian  population, 
the  army  will  fail,  the  government  will  fall. 
We  are  not  talking  about  haphazard  violence, 
but  inflicting  terror  so  that  communities  will 
no  longer  support  the  government." 

The  RUF  gained  notoriety  for  hacking 
otT  people's  limbs.  There  are  not  many  am- 
putees in  New  York  —  in  Sierra  Leone,  there 
are  amputee  camps.  In  New  York,  those  who 
go  around  armless  can  attract  unwelcome  at- 
tention. People  pry,  want  to  know  what  hap- 
pened and  why. 

"We  help  refugees  formulate  how  they 
want  to  respond."  Yinka  said.  "Do  they  want 
to  ignore  the  person,  the  questions?  Do  they 
want  to  get  into  it?" 

One  young  man  managed  to  turn  his  pre- 
dicament into  a  university  of  the  street.  While 
waiting  for  a  bus,  he  would  educate  the  cu- 
rious about  Sierra  Leone,  the  war,  the  RUF, 
all  of  it.  "He  was  able  to  turn  the  issue  away 
from  himself,  which  I  think  is  pretty  amaz- 
ing." 

Child  soldiers  posed  a  special  problem. 
They  had  been  abducted  by  the  RUF  after 
seeing  their  relatives  raped  and  murdered. 
The  RUF  armed  them,  turned  them  into  them- 
selves. Some  became  the  worst  monsters  in 
the  monster  factory. 

"I  feel  you  have  to  separate  out  the  child 
soldiers  completely  because  one  of  the  things 
about  the  war  in  Sierra  Leone  was  that  a  large 
number  of  people  were  coerced,"  Yinka  said. 
"There  were  Small  Boys  Units,  Small  Girls 
Units." 

But  when  former  child  soldiers  come  to 
her  seeking  treatment,  she  refers  them  else- 
where. "Ethically,  I  could  not  enter  into  a  treat- 


ment relationship  with  someone  that  perpetrat- 
ed crimes  against  the  Sierra  Leonean  people." 

Survivors  of  the  brutal  war  in  Liberia, 
the  brutal  regime  in  Cameroon,  and  the  ca- 
lamity of  displacement  in  southwest  Africa 
have  also  been  appearing  at  Nah  We  Yone's 
doors.  They  come  for  the  legal,  medical,  and 
mental  health  assistance  the  group  offers.  Cli- 
ents are  referred  to  public  hospitals  like  Har- 
lem Hospital  that  cannot  turn  people  away  for 
inability  to  pay.  They  are  directed  to  Human 
Rights  First  for  pro-bono  legal  services,  and 
to  Yinka  for  therapy  when  time  permits. 

For  other  emigres  who  might  be  con- 
templating forming  similar  grassroots  groups 
out  of  blood,  ashes,  and  flight.  Yinka  advises 
them  to  "Identify  the  needs,  identify  like- 
minded  people,  and  set  a  goal.  You  can  do  a 
lot  with  limited  resources.  WTien  we  started 
Nah  We  Yone,  we  had  a  fundraiser.  We  invited 
friends  to  our  house,  and  passed  around  the 
hat.  We  made  SI 50.  We  used  that  money  to 
buy  stamps,  stationary,  to  write  to  people  who 
couldn't  come.  It  took  five  years  for  people  to 
see  what  we  could  do  and  fund  us." 

On  one  occasion,  Nah  We  Yone  was  able 
to  work  a  small  miracle.  A  mother,  arriving  in 
America  as  a  stowaway,  was  distraught  at  be- 
ing separated  from  her  children,  thought  to  be 
refugees  somewhere  in  Guinea.  Nah  We  Yone 
paid  for  ads  to  run  on  the  radio  in  Conakry. 
They  said  simply:  "Your  mother  is  well  and 
living  in  New  York.  She  wants  you  to  contact 
her  if  you  hear  this."  They  may  have  been  the 
only  ads  ever  directed  at  a  handful  of  indigent 
children.  The  children  heard,  made  contact, 
and  were  flown  from  their  refugee  camp  to 
New  York. 


"In  our  work,  you  are  constantly  hearing 
about  and  seeing  the  effects  of  the  worst  things 
human  beings  can  do  to  one  another,"  Hawk 
said.  "You  don't  want  to  become  involved  so 
deeply  that  you  become  overwhelmed  and 
swamped.  But  at  the  same  time  it's  important 
to  remain  open  and  stay  sensitive  to  the  sto- 
ries and  the  details." 

Despite  everything.  Hawk  and  Yinka 
remain  optimistic  about  Sierra  Leone.  A  web 
of  healing  is  slowly  forming  over  its  legion  of 
w  ounds.  Counseling  centers  have  been  set  up 
for  raped  women.  Ceremonies  of  repentance 
involving  former  rebels  are  taking  place.  The 
contrite  perpetrators  buy  food  for  a  communi- 
ty meal,  serve  everyone,  and  before  everyone 
confess  their  wrongdoings  and  ask  for  forgive- 
ness. The  ceremonies  are  called  Pull  Sara. 

"It  is  very  important  that  people  real- 
ize that  Sierra  Leone  is  not  just  a  country  of 
victims  but  a  country  of  survivors."  Hawk 
said.  "One  thing  the  rebel  insurgency  did  not 
do  was  pit  one  ethnic  group  against  another, 
one  religion  against  another  ...  As  a  result,  the 
tradition  of  people  being  able  to  relate  across 
those  lines  remained  intact.  When  there  are 
group  meetings  here,  you  will  find  a  Moslem 
sitting  next  to  a  Christian,  a  Mende  sitting 
next  to  a  Krio.  There  is  a  tolerance,  an  ability 
to  look  beyond  tribes  and  social  classes  that 
helps  Sierra  Leoneans  reconnect."  ir 

Robert  Hirschfield.is  a  journalist  specializ- 
ing in  human  rights  issues.  His  work  has  ap- 
peared in  Tricycle,  Z  Magazine,  City  Limits, 
d  other  publications. 


Yinka  and  Hawk  outside  the  mam  ottices  ot  lomahS  —  the  medical  school  of  the  Uniuersity  of  Sierra  Leone 


"The  big  thing  we  do  at  Nah  We  Yone  is  to  give  back  to  Sierra  Leoneans  a  sense 
of  community.  People  share  the  same  language,  the  same  food,  the  same  history. 
They  feel  a  sense  of  the  identity  they  have  lost." 


o 
o 


a  moment  with 


/■ 


The  Icarus  Project 


Ashley  McNamara  and  Sascha  Scatter 
founded  The  Icanis  Project,  an  online 
forum  for  people  outside  the  main- 
stream struggling  with  bipolar  disor- 
der They  have  recently  published  Nav- 
igating the  Space  Between  Brilliance 
and  Madness,  a  Reader  and  Roadmap 
of  Bipolar  Worlds.  Timothy  Kelly  met 
with  them  in  Portland,  one  of  the  stops 
on  their  national  book  tour. 

Tell  us  a  little  about  how  The  Icarus 
Project  got  started, 

Sascha:  The  Icarus  Project  started  out  as 
a  way  of  bringing  together  folks  who  are 
diagnosed  with  Bipolar  Disorder  but  were 
distrustful  of  mainstream  medicine  and 
corporate  culture  and  didn't  feel  like  they 
had  a  space  to  be  able  to  find  each  other. 
Ashley  and  I  met  after  I  wrote  an  article  in 
the  San  Francisco  Bay  Guardian  about  my 
experience  as  someone  who  really  hates 
the  pharmaceutical  industry,  and  has  been 
involved  in  radical  politics  for  years,  but 
takes  psych  drugs  every  day.  We  decided 
at  that  point  that  we  were  going  to  start 
this  web  site.  That  happened  in  the  fall  of 
2002,  and  it  has  just  taken  off. 

Ashley:  Since  then  we"ve  been  trying  to 
expand  the  dialogue  that's  been  going 
on  on  our  site  beyond  the  bounds  of  the 
computer  screen,  and  we  ended  up  editing 
together  a  book  of  all  the  voices  talking 
about  everything  from  the  spiritual  di- 
mensions of  mania  to  the  side  effects  of 
Lithium.  We  compiled  this  book  to  fill  the 
void  that  we  perceived  as  far  as  literature 
that  is  available  for  people  dealing  with 
mental  illness.  We  wanted  to  create  some- 
thing that  had  a  multitude  of  voices  and 
perspectives  and  be  critical  of  the  main- 
stream conceptions  of  mental  illness  while 
also  trying  to  navigate  the  existing  mental 
health  system.  We  also  undertook  a  tour 
across  the  country  because  we  wanted  to 
talk  to  people  face-to-facc.  to  open  up  dia- 
logues that  were  maybe  not  happening  in 
their  communities,  about  what  it  means  to 
be  called  cra/y  in  a  crazy  world  and  how 
we  can  take  care  of  each  other 

What  arc  you  hopinii  will  come  out  of 
this  effort'; 

Ashley:  On  a  larger  level,  we  just  want 


there  to  be  more  dialogue  and  a  higher 
level  of  awareness  of  these  things.  I  think 
a  lot  of  the  problems  people  go  through  in 
dealing  with  mental  illness  is  that  people 
in  their  communities  don't  know  how  to 
react  to  them  because  they  aren't  edu- 
cated about  what  the  symptoms  are,  what 
people  deal  with,  what's  the  difference 
between  being  sad  and  being  depressed, 
when  medication  makes  sense  and  when 
it  doesn't. 

Sascha:  1  think  if  we  could  be  a  little 
grandiose  for  a  second,  one  of  the  larger 
goals  we  have  is  to  reframe  the  way  peo- 
ple think  about  mental  illness,  and  rather 
than  seeing  things  like  bipolar  as  a  disease 
or  disorder,  seeing  them  as  a  dangerous 
gift  that  needs  to  be  taken  care  of  That's 
the  whole  myth  of  Icarus,  the  myth  of  the 
boy  who  is  given  wings  but  doesn't  know 
how  to  fly  so  he  flies  too  close  to  the  sun 
and  drowns  in  the  ocean.  One  of  the  things 
we  are  really  trying  to  get  out  there  is  that 
people  like  us  have  a  lot  to  offer  and  it  has 
nothing  to  do  with  being  pitied.  Ashley 
and  I  don't  think  of  ourselves  at  all  as  be- 
ing disabled.  We  are  actually  really  amaz- 
ing people  who  are  just  very  sensitive. 

What  kind  of  special  challenges  do  you 
think  there  are  for  people  struggling  with 
mental  illnesses  in  the  anti-aulhoritar- 
ian/activist  communities  ? 

Sascha:  Well  just  to  kind  of  ft"ame  it,  there 
seems  to  be  a  disproportionate  amount  of 
people  within  radical  communities  that 
struggle  with  so-called  mental  illnesses 
because  folks  like  us  ha\e  a  really  hard 
time  integrating  into  nonnal  society  and 
have  these  opportunities  to  find  higher 
degrees  of  freedom  than  we  would  in 
communities  where  working  ninc-to-fi\c 
jobs  is  sort  of  the  norm.  That's  one  of  the 
wonderful  things  about  radical  communi- 
ties and  it's  one  of  the  things  that  ends  up 
posing  a  lot  of  challenges  because  there 
are  a  lot  of  beha\iors  that  would  ordinar- 
ily be  warning  signs  but  within  our  circles 
they  are  kind  of  normal. 

.Ashley:  I  thnik  that  within  any  commu- 
nity that  has  established  rigid  politics 
whether  it  be  the  community  of  Chris- 
tian fundamentalists  or  the  community  of 
anarchists  where  there  is  a  prescribed 
set  of  how  you  are  supposed  to  think  about 


L  Timothy  Kelly 

things;  just  a  lot  of  dilTerent  matrices  that 
you  are  trying  to  navigate  that  make  it 
difficult  to  live  with  contradictions.  Like 
being  [someone  in  the  community  of  an- 
archists] that  doesn't  really  want  to  have 
possessions,  that  doesn't  want  to  work,  or 
fit  those  molds,  but  needs  to  ha\e  health 
insurance  so  they  can  take  medication.  I 
think  those  communities  can  potentially 
make  it  pretty  difficult  to  cross  over  if  you 
don't  fit  within  the  lines  that  ha\e  been 
drawn. 

Sascha:  On  the  flip  side,  one  of  the  things 
that  we  really  ha\e  going  for  us  is  that 
we  are  part  of  more  alternative  or  radical 
communities.  I  mean,  it's  so  much  easier 
for  us  to  get  together  and  organize  than  the 
average  everyday  American  whose  com- 
munity and  cultural  activity  include  going 
to  w  ork,  coming  home,  and  w  atching  tele- 
\  ision.  While  we  do  ha\e  a  lot  to  work  on. 
I  think  in  some  ways  it's  a  lot  easier 

So  where  would  you  like  u>  go  next  with 
the  Icarus  Project? 

Sascha:  Coming  out  of  an  activist  back- 
ground, and  looking  at  other  models  and 
how  they  w  ork,  I  don't  think  either  of  us  are 
interested  in  creating  a  typical  non-profit, 
hierarchical  structure.  We  reall>  want  the 
Icarus  Project  to  grow.  Right  now  it's  re- 
ally just  the  two  of  us  and  then  the  people 
who  use  our  site.  Models  that  I  think  we 
are  both  really  attracted  to  are  groups  like 
Food  Not  Bombs,  The  Independent  Media 
Center.  Critical  Mass,  Art  and  Re\olution. 
DitTerent  groups  that  ha\e  started  in  one 
place  and  had  a  really  good  idea  on  how 
to  do  things  and  then  were  replicated  in 
other  towns,  so  that  there  wasn't  any  kind 
of  hierarchical  structure  w  ithin  the  orga- 
nization but  was  kind  of  a  network.  In  our 
ca.se,  we  would  be  a  network  of  radical 
support  groups.  What  that  actually  means 
is  still  in  the  early  visionary  stages.  "^ 

For  moiv  injo  www.theicarusproject.net. 
You  can  order  the  reader  in  the  Clamor 
infoSHOP  al  www.clamormagazine.org. 

Timothy  Kelly  is  a  caw  worker  in  a  non- 
profit social  ser\ice  agency,  and  is  attend- 
ing school  seeking  a  career  in  naturopath- 
ic medicine  He  is  heavily  into  mad  adw- 
cacy  and  synthesizers  He  can  he  ivached 
<  ii  madliheratorifiriseup.  net. 


wurd^  Kari  Lydersen 

photo  Spencer  Cunningham 


With  extensive  experience  as  an  educator,  administrator,  artist, 
and  activist,  Loma  Gonsalves  knows  where  the  fight  for  human 
rights  and  dignity  really  needs  to  start  —  in  the  communities  that  are 
suffering  because  various  aspects  of  their  basic  materia!  and  social 
well-being  are  threatened. 

Gonsalves  believes  that  campaigns  and  movements  should  be 
guided  by  those  most  affected  [by  unjust  policies  and  unfair  treat- 
ment]; for  example,  people  who  have  been  cast  aside  because  of  rac- 
ism, classism,  sexism,  and  other  forms  of  oppression,  or  marginalized 
people  in  developing  countries  who  bear  the  brunt  of  economic  glo- 
balization policies. 

This  is  the  central  principle  of  Community  He(Art)bcats,  a  grass- 
roots community  art  and  social  justice  program  run  through  an  orga- 
nization Gonsalves  founded  called  Human  Values  for  Transformative 
Action  (HVTA).  Community  He(Art)beats  is  a  wide-ranging  project  in 
which  groups  around  her  home  base  of  Toledo,  Ohio,  are  producing  art 
that  reflects  and  expresses  the  struggles  and  aspirations  of  mistreated 
groups.  There  is  a  mural  painted  by  young  artists  working  with  youth 
from  the  juvenile  detention  center  in  Toledo,  reflecting  their  difficult 
journeys  through  life  and  their  hopes  for  the  future.  And  there  is  a  col- 
lection of  items  that  residents  of  a  Toledo  homeless  shelter  gave  to  stu- 
dents from  nearby  Lourdes  College  displayed  along  with  the  words  of 
the  shelter  residents.  The  artwork  will  be  displayed  at  the  Toledo  School 
for  the  Arts  on  International  Human  Rights  Day  December  10.  2004. 

Gonsalves  hopes  the  program  will  inspire  other  communities 
around  the  country  and  the  world  to  do  the  same  thing.  She  has  started 
discussions  with  human  rights  workers  in  South  Africa  and  Geneva 
and  community  leaders  in  other  U.S.  cities  about  the  project. 

Every  He(  Art)beats  production  operates  with  the  central  idea  that 
the  work  must  be  guided  by  the  people  whose  stories  are  being  told; 
for  example,  juvenile  detainees,  migrant  and  seasonal  farm  workers, 
people  with  disabilities,  depressed  individuals,  or  homeless  people. 

"We  take  a  lot  of  inspiration  from  Mahatma  Gandhi's  concept 
of  swaraj  and  swadeshi,  meaning  self-determination  and  self-suffi- 
ciency," said  Gonsalves,  a  native  of  India  and  a  former  professor  and 
associate  provost  at  Bowling  Green  State  University  in  Ohio  who  has 
now  turned  her  attention  to  full-time  community  work. 

Lourdes  College  social  work  chairperson  Joyce  Litten,  whose 
students  carried  out  the  discussions  with  homeless  shelter  residents, 
noted  that  they  went  to  great  lengths  to  be  aware  of  the  impact  their 
presence  would  have  on  the  shelter  and  to  be  respectful  of  the  resi- 
dents and  their  input.  She  said  the  interaction  was  especially  powerful 
since  many  Lourdes  students  are  "non-traditional"  college  students 
who  have  themselves  been  recipients  of  social  services  in  the  past. 

"We  talked  a  great  deal  about  the  word  empowerment  and  what 
that  means,  about  allowing  people  to  speak  for  themselves,"  she  said. 
"We  wanted  to  impress  on  the  students  the  dignity  of  the  individual 


and  the  eloquence  of  the  people  receiving  services.  We  didn't  trans- 
late, we  didn't  add  our  ideas  or  emotions,  we  simply  conveyed  their 
language.  And  there  were  people  who  didn't  want  to  talk  to  us,  who 
basically  said  fuck  you,  and  that's  OK." 

Dawn  Miller,  a  39-year-old  Lourdes  student  who  participated  in 
a  He(Art)beats  program  in  a  pottery  class,  described  how  the  group 
brainstormed  about  how  to  make  a  piece  of  terra  cotta  represent  the 
outflow  and  interchange  of  ideas  in  society.  They  came  up  with  an  urn 
inscribed  with  graffiti-style  images  representing  qualities  like  com- 
passion and  courage. 

"We'll  cut  the  bottom  of  the  urn  out  and  make  it  into  a  fountain," 
she  said.  "It's  supposed  to  represent  an  outpouring  of  love  and  com- 
munication." 

Litten  noted  that  unlike  visual  artists,  social  workers  aren't  used  to 
dealing  with  visual  images,  so  translating  their  experience  into  art  was  a 
challenge.  Gonsalves  believes  in  the  power  of  art  and  images  to  engage, 
inspire,  and  involve  people  in  a  way  words  alone  often  cannot. 

"Some  unexpected  visual  images  turned  up  in  the  news  recently 
and  have  opened  the  world's  eyes  to  the  brutal  atrocities  committed 
by  a  few  U.S.  troops  and  other  'freedom  fighters,'"  Gonsalves  said.  "I 
think  that  visual  images  can  at  once  capture  minds  and  hearts,  bring- 
ing human  rights  issues  to  life  and  revealing  the  disturbing  realities 
around  us." 

Taken  together,  one  group  of  images  in  the  Dec.  10  exhibit  is 
meant  to  depict  the  30  articles  of  the  Universal  Declaration  of  Human 
Rights  and  the  mission  of  UNESCO  (United  Nations  Educational,  Sci- 
entific, and  Cultural  Organization). 

Another  set  of  visual  images  will  present  the  concerns  and  needs 
of  marginalized  groups  in  the  local  communities.  A  special  wing  will 
contain  visual  images  created  by  members  of  religious  organizations 
whose  work  "will  bring  to  life  the  link  between  spiritual  obligations 
and  social  action,"  Gonsalves  said. 

"We  start  with  the  global  context  and  move  to  the  dimension  that 
prompts  us  to  think  about  a  common  humanity  and  then  move  to  a 
dimension  that  makes  us  think  about  community  needs,"  Gonsalves, 
who  formerly  served  as  the  director  of  global  outreach  at  UNESCO's 
Institute  of  Comparative  Human  Rights  at  the  University  of  Connecti- 
cut, explained.  "Then  we  have  a  part  where  we  collect  community 
responses  to  collectively  develop  a  plan  of  action,  all  emanating  from 
the  grassroots."  i^ 

For  more  information  or  to  support  the  Community  He(Art)beats  pro- 
gram, visit  the  HVTA  website  at  www.hvta.org  or  email  info@hvta.org. 

Kari  Lydersen  is  a  Chicago-based  journalist  writing  for  The  Washing- 
ton Post,  In  These  Times  and  other  publications  and  a  youth  journal- 
ism instructor  She  can  be  reached  at  karilyder(aj,yahoo.com 


above.  The  Community  He(Art)beats  youth  and  the  "Journles  Towards  Hope"  mural,  above  right.  Lorna  Gonsalves  connects  local  efforts  with  the  global 
agenda  by  discussing  the  Universal  Declaration  of  Human  Rights. 


o 
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W 
Ul 


LiP:  Informed  Revolt 

Flabb«rgasting  "Thaft"  Issu*  On  Shelves  Now 

Featuring: 

Zapatismo  &  the  Reclaiming  of  Everything  |  Robin 
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art  of  theft  |  Mark  Zepezauer  exploring  the  mind- 
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i  YA  BASTA!  ten  years  of  the  Zapatista  uprising 
WRITINGS  OF  SUBCOMANDANTE  MARCOS 
Forewords  by  Noam  Chomsky  &  Naomi  Klein 

The  most  compretiensive  collection  ol  essays  and  communiques  ol  Matras.  /U 
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00 

n 


Shovels  ground  into  the  four-foot  high  mound  of  mud  in  the  road. 
Several  cars  were  piled  either  on  top  or  in  front  of  the  lump, 
freshly  formed  by  a  sudden  landslide  following  a  rainstorm. 
This  was  only  a  minor  obstacle  in  our  t\\  o-day  journey  through  Sich- 
uan Province  to  Da  Zc  Temple  ("Temple  of  the  Great  Rule"),  a  small 
monastery  in  a  remote  region  bordering  Tibet.  Our  group  consisted  of 
over  20  people,  mostly  educated  young  or  middle-aged  professionals 
from  Shanghai  and  Sichuan,  all  devout  followers  of  a  Living  Buddha, 
or  Huo  Fo,  whom  they  called  "master." 

They  represented  a  growing  contingent  of  people  in  Chinese  so- 
ciety who  have  both  the  resources  and  the  will  to  pursue  something 
beyond  material  existence.  Overwhelmed  or  disappointed  w  ith  the  in- 
flux of  material  wealth,  people  \sho  came  of  age  in  the  Refomi  Era  are 
moving  away  from  the  drive  toward  wealth  and  toward  another  type 
of  success,  in  which  the  profit  margin  is  serenity  and  the  chief  asset  is 
contained  not  in  a  bank  but  in  a  spiritual  vision. 

From  a  Western  pop  cultural  perspective,  something  about  Bud- 
dhism imbues  it  with  a  sort  of  grace  that  lets  it  rise  abo\e  Westcm 
doctrines  whose  public  images  are  tainted  by  fanaticism.  My  Western 
peers,  particularly  the  "crunchy  granola"  variety  abundant  on  college 
campuses,  seem  fascinated  by  Buddhism's  ancient  mysticism  and 
seemingly  precocious  progrcssixism.  Perhaps  what  attracts  people 
from  the  developed  world  to  Buddhism  is  that  Buddhism  doesn't  seek 
them  out.  At  least  on  the  surface,  florid  monasteries,  archaic  scriptures, 
and  esoteric  mantras  arc  things  to  be  discov  ered.  Maybe.  I  thought,  as 
we  flew  along  the  mountain  road  past  pine  forests  and  spraw  ling  crop- 
lands, it  was  the  passion  of  searching  that  fueled  belief 

As  we  climbed  higher,  the  air  began  to  thin  and  our  lungs  swelled 
steadily  with  the  anticipation  of  our  reaching  the  destination.  When 
our  three  cars  stopped  for  a  rest,  one  of  the  group  leaders,  a  real  estate 
developer  from  Sichuan,  got  out  of  his  car  to  check  up  on  the  oth- 
ers. He  looked  over  at  me  and  smiled.  "This  kid  from  America  really 
knows  how  to  chi  ku,"  he  said,  referring  to  the  idiom  of  "eating  bitter," 
the  Chinese  virtue  of  being  able  to  sufTer  for  a  goal. 

above  Monastery  youth  hitching  a  ride  on  a  tractor  —  one  ol  the  only  terms  ol  transport  available 
above  nghl  the  Living  Buddha 


in  search  of 


THE  LIVING  BUDDHA 


Exploring  the  Tibetan  Faith  with  a  Crop  of  New  Believers  in  China 


One  of  the  reasons  I  came,  admittedly,  was  to  see  if  I  could  really 
take  the  bitterness.  To  an  extent,  my  motivations  were  not  so  different 
from  those  of  my  companions.  One  of  the  key  principles  of  Tibetan 
Buddhism  is  "refuge."  The  stark,  isolated  life  of  religious  contem- 
plation provides  sanctuary  from  base  human  impulses.  Seekers  of 
Buddhist  salvation  must  find  refuge  in  moral  teachings  and  shut  out 
"worldly  deities." 

Our  common  destination  provided  another  type  of  refuge  —  that 
of  the  religious  community.  I  was  asked  by  the  other  travelers  whether 
I  was  a  "follower."  Trying  to  sound  as  un-tourist-like  as  possible.  1 
told  them  no,  I'm  just  here  to  "tiyan"  —  for  the  experience.  But  I 
suppose  I  was  a  "follower,"  in  the  sense  that  my  main  purpose  in  this 
journey  was  to  follow,  and  like  them.  I  was  unsure  exactly  what  it  was 
1  was  following. 

Though  we  were  mostly  strangers  to  each  other,  the  warmth  of 
siblings  imbued  people's  conversations. and  interactions  as  we  talk- 
ed and  ate  together  on  the  road.  The  aloofness  that  I  had  frequently 
encountered  among  other  urban  dwellers  during  my  time  living  in 
Shanghai  had  dissolved.  The  urban  cynicism  and  instinctive  defen- 
siveness  were  temporarily  forgotten.  It  was  assumed  that  (with  one 
exception),  everyone  was  on  a  quest  for  spiritual  gain. 

Four  kilometers  in  the  air.  the  pain  that  was  beginning  to  seep 
through  our  temples  felt  like  our  worldly  deities  tr>'ing  to  claw  us  back 
into  the  ordinary  world.  The  China  we  were  coming  from  was  a  China 
of  cranes  and  steamrollers.  Big  Macs  and  karaoke  bars,  white  collars, 
dirty  hands,  and  clenched  fists.  The  "bitter"  we  were  consuming  was 
something  of  an  indulgence  —  to  taste  it  was  to  realize  a  fantasy  of 
self-sacrifice. 

At  the  last  turn,  the  empty  plains  that  had  flanked  the  bumpy  road 
burst  into  a  bustling  oasis.  We  saw  a  field  of  grazing  yaks,  dotted  with 
white  square  tents  or  zangpeng.  Though  the  sky  was  now  gray  and  the 
road  slick  with  rain,  the  mood  was  buoyant  as  we  were  led  by  smil- 
ing locals  through  a  red  arc  supported  by  ropes  and  decorated  with 


prayer  flags.  We  followed  the  lamas  up  a  steep,  creaking  wooden  stair- 
case into  an  attic  housing  four  compact  rooms,  the  largest  of  which 
was  painted  with  Tibetan  patterns  and  contained  a  long  narrow  table 
which  was  soon  piled  for  us  with  wrinkled  fruit,  plates  of  candy,  and 
simple  dishes  that  were  catered  specifically  for  us  (the  lamas  figured 
we  would  not  be  able  to  stomach  their  diet  of  yak  meat  and  dair>'  and 
greasy  porridge).  The  mood  of  celebration  was  dampened  by  the  col- 
lapse of  several  of  our  members  on  the  long  couch  that  ran  along  the 
wall.  A  young  man  trained  in  Chinese  medicine  had  brought  a  small 
oxygen  tank  and  went  around  plugging  people  with  a  breathing  tube. 

After  our  humble  feast,  we  sat  in  the  small  living  room  adjacent 
to  the  dining  room,  sipping  cloudy  hot  water  (which  they  had  to  truck 
over  from  a  neighboring  region)  from  paper  cups.  I  sat  beside  a  fellow 
Shanghai  pilgrim,  a  Taiwanese  expatriate  businessman  named  Steven. 
He  showed  me  a  young,  bespectacled  lama  with  a  moustache  and  a 
lavish  gold  and  maroon  robe.  This  was  Huo  Fo,  the  Living  Buddha. 
The  object  of  our  journey. 

"This  is  our  American  fhend,"  said  Steven.  I  stood  and  shook 
his  hand,  somewhat  underwhelmed  by  the  sight  of  the  Buddha  rein- 
carnate. I  thought  he  looked  remarkably  graceftil.  his  smooth  coun- 
tenance distinguishing  him  from  his  gaunt,  wind-burnt  non-Buddha 
colleagues. 

With  the  Huo  Fo  in  our  midst,  the  pilgrims  seemed  finally  to  feel 
safe  in  the  harsh  surroundings.  I  retired  to  a  heap  of  blankets  in  a  small 
square  room,  beside  the  rhythmic  bowing  of  a  girl  about  my  age,  lost 
in  intense  prayer. 

In  the  morning,  we  walked  about  100  meters  to  the  monastery,  a  cubic 
red  brick  building.  The  inside  was  almost  completely  dark  except  for 
beams  of  silver  daylight  threading  through  the  tiny  square  windows. 
Rows  of  monks  sat  on  raggedy  carpets  before  small,  low  wooden 
benches,  which  held  bowls  of  food  and  served  as  prayer  altars.  In 
muted  primary  colors  and  gold,  paintings,  statues,  prayer  flags,  and 
incense  crowded  into  every  available  space,  almost  messy,  slightly 


o 
o 


gaudy.  The  place  felt  like  an  attic  that  had  for  centuries  been  accu- 
mulating worn,  beautiful  things  that  would  not  fit  anywhere  else.  In 
two  elevated  thrones  draped  in  green  and  red  brocade  cloth  presided 
two  Living  Buddhas  —  the  younger  Huo  Fo,  my  group's  leader,  and 
another  Huo  Fo  of  about  fifty. 

The  scent  of  damp  wood  hung  in  the  sedate  atmosphere  of  the 
room.  The  oddly  musical  guttural  chanting  of  mantras  in  trance-like, 
blurred  unison  alternated  with  stretches  of  pregnant  silence.  What  we 
were  witnessing,  I  realized,  was  the  ritual  that  formed  the  center  of 
the  monastic  life.  The  sole  mission  of  the  monks  was  to  cultivate  their 
mind  through  nicdilation  and  the  study  of  scriptures.  The  room  we  had 


ance,  they  spent  hundreds  of  thousands  of  yuan  to  help  build  a  local 
school  and  a  new  temple. 

While  the  pilgrims  found  the  isolation  of  the  monastery  refresh- 
ing, it  was  clear  that  this  community  was  poor  in  almost  every  way 
imaginable.  There  was  no  industrv.  no  infrastructure,  and  a  primitive 
school  system.  Yet  they  prospered  in  the  one  aspect  in  which  city  life 
was  destitute:  faith.  What  little  these  people  had  was  funneled  into  a 
communion  with  divinity.  The  Westernized  pilgrims  cherished  their 
Li\ing  Buddha  and  ornate  temples  as  embodiments  of  an  internal  life 
they  had  forgotten  and  then,  through  journeys  like  this,  reclaimed. 

Most  of  the  group  decided  to  leave  after  two  days,  ready  to  return 


above.  Iibet.jn  gi!\'>  waiting  outside  the  temple  for  the  ceremony  to  begin,  above  right-.  Twu  Mu 
a  picture  during  the  break  between  prayer  ceremonies. 


o 
o 


entered  as  observers  —  clumsily  heaped  against  a  back  wall  —  was 
their  place  of  refuge,  a  sanctuary  that  had  opened,  momentarily,  for 
us. 

I  hesitated  as  I  wondered  whether  taking  pictures  would  disturb 
them.  When  1  saw  that  others  were  using  digital  cameras  to  record  the 
event,  including  a  lama  in  his  thirties,  I  guiltily  decided  that  no  one 
would  object  if  1  joined  in.  Some  younger  monks  smiled  and  gathered 
behind  people's  cameras,  intrigued  by  the  glowing  vicwfinders.  It  be- 
came clear  that  suddenly  we  were  the  spectacle. 

The  highlight  of  the  mid-morning  ceremonies  was  the  procession 
led  by  the  Shifu,  or  master  of  my  group.  He  quietly  led  other  monks 
through  the  aisles  distributing  shimmering  colored  prayer  scarves  to 
each  lama,  as  well  as  to  the  visitors,  who  bowed  graciously  as  they 
received  the  gift.  After  the  young,  handsome  Huo  Fo  had  made  his 
rounds  shaking  hands  with  beaming  devotees,  dozens  of  followers 
lined  up  before  the  thrones  to  present  the  two  Huo  Fos  with  red  enve- 
lopes stuffed  with  cash.  I  sensed  a  contrast  between  the  stoic  rituals 
that  had  occupied  most  of  the  morning  and  this  sudden  focus  on  the 
Huo  Fos"  celebrity.  This  last  ritual  was  for  us,  the  outsiders  —  a  mea- 
sured bit  of  publicity  before  the  monastery  once  again  retreated  into 
seclusion.  Perhaps  the  lama  with  the  camcorder  was  tilniing  us  for  a 
promotional  video. 

(  omparcd  to  their  humble  daily  existence,  the  expense  of  hosting  us 
must  have  been  exorbitant.  The  monastery.  I  learned  from  Steven,  de- 
pended on  the  contributions  of  followers,  who  included  many  well-off 
professionals,  like  our  group.  In  return  for  the  Huo  Fo's  divine  guid- 


O 


to  conventional,  worldly  lifestyles.  As  we  packed  into  our  cars,  the  la- 
mas and  ruddy  local  children  crowded  around  us  and  \\a\ed  goodbye. 
Though  we  had  not  been  there  long  enough  for  either  side  to  feel  much 
sentimentality,  each  visitor  had  left  behind  an  ephemeral  impression 
of  the  civilization  beyond  this  mountain  range  and  had  stolen  ofTwith 
a  tiny  piece  of  this  place  upon  departing. 

I  myself  had  not  been  spiritually  reborn  as  a  pilgnm  should.  Per- 
haps the  outside  world  had  cut  too  deeply  into  me.  But  I  had  glimpsed 
a  part  of  the  world  and  a  part  of  my  fellow  travelers  that  captured  both 
the  purest  desires  and  the  deepest  confusions  of  human  nature.  Maybe 
all  of  us,  belie\ers  and  non-belie\ers  alike,  were  working  through  the 
same  riddle,  caught  up  in  the  wish  that  we  could  return  to  a  pure  wa\ 
of  life,  a  more  holistic  society,  despite  being  tainted  by  the  pollutants 
of  our  atomized  modernity.  Could  our  reality  be  transmuted  through  a 
simple  journey?  Maybe  that's  what  faith  is.  it 

The  reporting  for  this  article  was  done  during  a  year-long  Fulbrighi 
research  fellowship  in  China.  Now  hack  in  her  native  New  York.  Mi- 
chelle Chen  has  been  involved  with  various  independent  media  proj- 
ects. She  can  be  reached  at  micheUe_chen@inlhefray.com. 


Help  ensure  clamor's  future 
W  as  an  amplifier  of  independent  voices. 

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G  Q  L//M- 


worcJc  Yolanda  Best 
illustration  Brandon  Bauer 


Functional 
Inequity 

Despite  progress  made  on  many  fronts  in 
America,  millions  in  the  deaf  community 
are  still  struggling  to  be  heard. 


Jamie  Berke  is  forced  to  go  to  a  doctor  who  doesn't  speaic 
her  primary  language.  Joshua  Flanders  thinks  it's  wrong 
that  millions  of  Americans  can't  walk  into  any  theater  to  see 
a  movie.  Jesse  Thomas  is  angry  that  he  cannot  watch  "The 
Simpsons."  For  millions  of  deaf  and  hard  of  hearing  people, 
even  the  most  basic  and  necessary  information  is  often  inac- 
cessible, and  becoming  even  less  so,  as  the  government  cuts 
funding  for  programs  and  services. 

Issues  of  the  deaf  community  often  fall  under  the  um- 
brella of  the  Disabilities  Act,  which  calls  for  "functional 
equivalency."  In  his  statement  to  the  47th  Annual  Confer- 
ence of  National  Association  of  the  Deaf  (NAD),  Michael  J. 
Copps,  the  FCC  Commisioner,  addressed  the  government's 
accomplishments  and  failures  in  providing  for  the  needs 
of  millions  of  citizens.  "The  term  [functional  equivalency] 
may  sound  inelegant,  but  for  the  deaf  and  hard  of  hearing 
it  translates  into  equal  opportunity,  equal  rights,  and  fuller 
participation  in  our  society."  This  fuller  participation  should 
be  evident  in  all  aspects  of  life.  However,  many  leaders  in 
the  deaf  community  would  argue  that  much  still  needs  to  be 
done. 

Film  and  TV  Captioning 

For  example,  take  the  fight  for  movie  captioning.  Caption- 
ing of  films,  like  television  shows,  is  not  mandatory  by  law. 
Thus,  many  movies  and  television  programs  are  inaccessible. 
Recently,  the  Bush  administration  exacerbated  the  problem 
by  cutting  funding  for  a  number  of  captioned  programs  and 
services  —  the  government  would  no  longer  compensate  me- 
dia outlets  that  provided  captions  tor  these  programs.  Barry 
Strassler,  editor  oi  Deaf  Digest,  the  largest  circulation  deaf 
interest  magazine  in  the  world,  sees  it  as  negligence  on  the 
part  of  the  media.  "Problems  will  continue  as  long  as  those  in 
the  media  industry  continue  to  pinch  pennies,"  he  said.  "Rak- 
ing in  billions  of  dollars  but  pleading  poverty  when  it  comes 
to  paying  to  caption  a  one-hour  TV  program." 

On  the  subject  of  film  captioning,  Joshua  Flanders,  the 
executive  director  of  Chicago  Institute  for  the  Moving  Image 
(CIMI),  agrees  it's  an  issue  of  money.  "When  President  Bush 

continued  next  page 


— i-i 


o 
o 


o 
o 


(VJ 


proposed  to  cut  the  captioning  for  200  tele- 
vision shows  that  were  previously  captioned, 
without  reason  or  warning,  that  could  be  a 
Ibnn  of  censorship,"  he  said.  "But  the  lack 
of  captioning  in  theaters  is  a  new  subject,  and 
recent  lawsuits  have  forced  theaters  to  install 
rear-window  captioning." 

Rear-window  captioning  shows  captions 
on  a  smaller  screen  designed  for  individual 
use.  According  to  Flanders,  this  alternative, 
though  not  ideal  for  deaf  audiences  who  must 
focus  on  two  screens  during  a  viewing,  has 
been  settled  on  as  the  most  equitable  solution. 
"1  have  asked  rear-window  captioners  as  well 
as  theater  owners,  and  they  tell  me  that  hear- 
ing people  do  not  like  to  see  captions  on  the 
screen,"  Flanders  said.  "Theaters  also  com- 
plain that  they  will  not  make  enough  money 
showing  captioned  films,  or  that  they  cannot 
show  them  during  peak  hours  such  as  holi- 
days when  deaf  children  are  the  most  free  to 
see  films." 

CIMI,  however,  is  taking  action  to  im- 
prove accessibility  for  deaf  audiences.  In 
2002,  it  held  a  captioned  viewing  of  the  Pixar 
movie  Monsters,  Inc.  "When  I  saw  300  deaf 
children  with  their  faces  in  awe  at  the  wonder 
of  a  new  movie,  especially  when  most  have 
never  been  in  a  movie  theater,  there  was  no 
question  why  I  was  doing  it  and  why  I  would 
continue  to  do  it." 

Health  Issues 

Not  all  problems  of  the  deaf  community  re- 
ceive such  attention.  Jamie  Berke.  the  Deaf- 
ness/Hard of  Hearing  guide  on  About.com, 
points  out  that  accessibility  to  proper  health 
care  and  health  information  continues  to  be 
an  issue.  "Deaf  people  ha\e  sued  for  inter- 
preters for  medical  appointments."  she  says. 
"My  own  most  recent  insurer  did  not  provide 
interpreters  and  I  had  to  make  do  with  writing 
notes  with  my  doctors."  Being  unable  to  fully 
communicate  with  doctors  can  become  espe- 
cially hazardous  when  serious  or  life-threat- 
ening health  issues  are  involved.  Currently 
there  is  no  law  requiring  that  health  insurers 
provide  qualified  interpreters  during  doctor 
visits  for  their  deaf  clients. 

According  to  Strassler,  slanted  coverage 
of  many  deaf  issues  by  the  media  can  cause 
the  hearing  world  to  not  fully  understand  the 
needs  of  the  community.  "As  long  as  news- 
papers highlight  the  isolated  'deaf  success' 
stories  but  ignore  the  'deaf  failure  cases'  then 
we  are  presenting  a  false  image."  says  Stras- 
sler. "Like  the  story  of  a  deaf  child  being  able 
to  speak  well  or  lip  read  well  giving  a  false 
impression  that  every  single  deaf  child  can  do 
the  same."  The  images  of  the  'deaf  success" 
storv  in  the  media  coverage  tend  to  obscure 
the  real  issues  the  community  continues  to 
face,  especially  since  recently,  many  of  these 
gains  are  being  withdrawn. 


Video  Relay  Services 

Video  Relay  Services  (VRS)  are  one  such 
service.  VRS  are  public  on-demand  ser- 
vices provided  by  private  telecommunica- 
tions companies  that  allow  a  deaf  person  to 
communicate  with  a  hearing  person  over  the 
phone.  The  service  provides  a  signing  inter- 
preter who  is  accessible  via  phone  or  Internet 
camera  to  act  as.  a  link  between  the  parties. 
The  government  compensates  companies  that 
provide  VRS  services. 

In  2003,  with  less  than  24-hour  notice, 
the  FCC  cut  its  compensation  rate.  A  board  of 
members  who  were  not  identified  made  this 
decision.  This  board  determined  the  cuts  by  a 
set  of  specifications  that  were  not  made  avail- 
able to  the  companies.  VRS  providers  were 
left  with  no  idea  which  cost  services  would  be 
compensated  by  the  government  and  which 
would  not.  In  essence,  they  would  have  to 
submit  their  expenses  and  accept  a  lower 
rate  of  compensation  with  no  explanation  as 
to  how  that  figure  was  reached.  This  was  not 
an  acceptable  situation  to  most  companies 
which,  in  turn,  drastically  reduced  services 
for  deaf  clients.  The  FCC  cut  VRS  provider 
compensation  again  in  2004  using  the  same 
unknown  specifications. 

"All  of  us  need  to  remind  the  FCC  that 
functional  equivalency  is  supposed  to  be  our 
guiding  star,"  said  Commissioner  Copps  in 
his  statement.  According  to  Copps,  the  com- 
mission is  working  to  provide  a  set  of  clari- 
fied rules.  Recently.  Senator  Mark  Dayton 
of  Minnesota  proposed  an  amendment  that 
would  provide  a  50  percent  tax  credit  to  both 
movie  studios  and  theaters  that  make  caption- 
ing available.  In  other  good  news,  the  Con- 
necticut house  raised  a  bill  that  would  require 
all  health  insurers  to  provide  coverage  for 
interpreter  services  for  covered  hearing-im- 
paired individuals  when  receiving  care  under 
a  policy. 

However,  deaf  civic  organizations  say 
it  is  the  vocal  citizens  in  both  hearing  and 
deaf  communities  that  make  the  government 
act.  Citizens  like  the  600.  representing  all  50 
states,  who  attended  the  2004  "Silence  No 
More!"  rally  in  Washington  D.C.  The  rally 
addressed  the  issue  of  the  absence  of  caption- 
ing in  various  venues  including  bus  and  train 
depots  and  captioning  of  instructions  during 
emergencies  such  as  natural  disasters.  For  in- 
stance, during  Flurricane  Charley,  which  hit 
the  southeastern  United  States,  ABC  News 
provided  no  captioning,  Strassler  said.  Ac- 
cording to  Copps,  "deaf  should  not  mean 
"silent"  on  important  issues  involving  the 
community's  needs. 

"Your  participation  can  make  the  ditTer- 
cncc  in  deciding  vs  hcilicr  wc  can  get  these  lat- 
est problems  behind  us,"  Copps  said,  address- 
ing the  members  of  NAD,  "and  then  get  on 
with  the  challenges  of  using  these  opportuni- 


ties -  creating  new  technologies  for  the  ben- 
efit of  every  American."  It  will  take  a  serious 
effort  from  deaf  and  hearing  communities, 
and  a  genuine  commitment  from  Copps'  ovv  n 
commission,  the  FCC,  to  breach  the  disparity 
and  reach  a  greater  level  of  functional  equiva- 
lency. As  Berke  points  out,  the  issues  of  the 
deaf  community  are  really  everyone's  issues. 
"Todav  "s  hearing  person  could  be  tomorrow's 
hard  of  hearing  or  deaf  person.  Not  meeting 
the  needs  of  deaf  people  is  what  makes  deaf 
people  disabled  -  not  the  hearing  loss  itself" 
Together  the  deaf  and  hearing  communities 
can  ensure  that  the  spirit  of  the  American 
Disabilities  Act  is  followed  and  that  one  day 
every  American  is  given  an  equal  functional 
base  on  which  to  live  their  life,  "tt 

To  learn  more  about  NAD  visit:  wAvw.nad.org 
or  phone  301-587-1788/  TTY  301-587-1789. 
To  learn  more  about  CIMI  visit:  vv"ww.deaf- 
cineina.org  or  phone'TTY  (847)  332-CIMI. 
To  learn  more  about  AT&T's  VRS  service 
visit:  www.attvrs.com 

YolanJa  Best  is  a  freelance  writer,  sociol- 
ogy- student  at  USE  and  volunteer  in  the  deaf 
community.  She  writes  fiction,  sci-fi,  and  so- 
cial commentary:  To  learn  more  about  her 
or  fi)r  contact  info  please  visit  w'w%\.  Writing. 
Com/authors/ybest 


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S»«m  (AVMLAKi  M  tLACK  OK  VVMTI.SZE  SHLXU I 

-Mrakv  O)  t»^  Aknm- booMK  WPKI 


rm>A«M  ««\i  Od  I  It  UnsTsIa)*)  Vkfx  Sn^  te 


George  B. Sanchez 
u.    Jon  Shiedewitz 

www.kickittilitbreaks.com 


"There's  an  authenticity 
to  distortion,  you  know. 

It's  hard  10  separate  John  K.  Samson  from  where  he's  from;  as  the  singer  for  the  Weaketthans, 
ha,  guy  ^rPropaghandi.  a  Canad.an  outsider  in  the  world  of  punk  &  pop.  Maybe  that's  why 
his  must  is  so  endearing  -  it  has  plaee,  it  has  hts.ory,  and  comes  from  somewhere  out  ,de 
*  ^o^tng  studto,  far  from  the  vapid  eemer  that  most  popular  musie  tends  to  stream  ou  of 
One  rl^^gh.  1  had  the  oppormniw  to  meet  ttp  with  John  after  a  show  at  San  Franetsco  s  Bottom 
of  the  Hill  club  and  talk  about  his  relationship  to  music,  place,  and  politics. 


Clarnor:  In  an  interview  with  a  Canadian  mu- 
sic magazine,  you  said  that  you  thought  the 
role  of  the  artist  is  to  point  out  how  compli- 
cated the  world  is. 

JKS:  Sounds  about  right. 

Is  there  a  fine  line  between  sloganeering  and 
being  heartfelt? 

I  think  my  point  was  that  the  world  is  very 
complicated  and  ju.st  full  of  voices.  I  thini< 
the  role  of  the  artist  is  to  express  or  illumi- 
nate those  voices  and  add  them  to  the  mi.x.  If 
you  listen  and  try  to  understand  another  per- 
son, you  immediately  invest  that  person  with 
dignity  and  that's  a  very  political  thing.  You 
can't  oppress  someone  whose  dignity  you  re- 
spect, so  I  think  it's  a  liberal  and  radicalizing 
idea,  to  try  and  understand  another  person. 
That's  what  great  music  does  and  what  great 
art  strives  for. 


Is  that  something  you  strive  for  through  your 
music  and  your  songwriting? 

Yeah,  I  think  so.  I  think  I've  tried  to  take  the 
specific  details  of  the  life  1  see  around  me  and 
the  way  I  fit  into  it  and  the  way  I  think  other 
people  fit  into  it,  in  my  community  —  and  try 
to  express  that  through  music.  That's  how  1 
think  of  what  I  do,  in  a  political  sense. 

One  debate,  one  statement  I've  never  really 
understood  is  "art  for  arts  sake.  " 

Me  neither.  I  don't  think  art  can  exist  in  a 
vacuum.  It  has  to  be  received  by  someone  in 
order  to  exist.  It  has  to  do  something  in  the 
world.  Art  for  arts  sake  is  never  —  I  don't 
think  it  can  be  true.  If  someone  says  that  their 
art  is  not  political,  that's  a  political  statement 
in  itself. 

I  always  think  about  that  John  Berger 
quote:  the  art  of  any  period  serves  the  status 


quo  of  that  period.  The  mainstream  art  we 
see  around  us  is  definitely  selling  something, 
selling  the  status  quo,  selling  things  as  they 
are,  not  things  as  they  should  be.  You  know, 
so  that's  why  art  is  important.  It's  important 
to  get  up  there  and  express  yourself  if  you've 
got  something  to  say. 

/  have  a  .statement  that  I  think  leads  into  a 
question.  I  differentiate  between  punk  and 
"punk  rock  "  because  I  think  there  s  a  separa- 
tion between  punk  as  an  ideology  and  punk 
rock  as  a  musical  sound.  Punk  rock,  politically 
and  musically,  is  often  categorized  Jor  its  ur- 
gency. You  left  a  band,  Propagandhi,  that  had 
a  much  more  urgent  sound,  I  would  say,  than 
the  music  you  're  making  with  the  Weakerthans. 
So,  I  guess  my  question  is;  has  the  change  in 
medium  affected  your  message  at  all? 

That's  a  good  question,  I  haven't  really 
thought  of  it  that  way.  But,  I  think  there's  still 


o 
o 

Ik 


an  immediacy  to  what  we  do.  I  mean,  frankly, 
it's  the  only  music  I  know  how  to  write,  first 
olT.  The  kind  of  songs  we  write,  they're  cer- 
tainly not  rhetorically  political,  they're  not 
stridently  political  in  any  sense  of  the  idea  of 
propaganda. 

Is  there  a  place  for  propaganda  within  popu- 
lar music? 

Absolutely.  I'm  just  not  the  person  to  do  it. 
I  can't  be  that  person.  It's  important,  politi- 
cally, for  people  to  figure  out  what  they  love 
to  do.  1  think  once  you  figure  out  what  you 
love  to  do,  then  you  can  figure  out  how  to  har- 
ness that  into  some  kind  of  action  that  makes 
a  mark  in  the  world.  So,  this,  for  better  or  for 
worse,  is  what  I've  figured  out  how  to  do. 

Why  is  geography  so  important  to  you  as  a 
song  writer? 

1  guess  I've  always  been  attracted  to  what 
people  think  of  as  regional  writers.  I  think  of 
novelists  like  Paul  Auster,  who  writes  about 
New  York  and  he  creates  this  New  York  that 
doesn't  really  exist  but  seems  quite  alive  to 
me.  It's  his  New  York,  you  know,  but  it  gives 
you  a  new  way  of  looking  at  the  world. 

I  think  I'm  also  interested  in  margins. 
I'm  from  a  geographically  marginal  place. 
It's  a  good  metaphor  for  me.  I'm  interested  in 
people  that  are  marginalized  and  places  that 
are  marginalized  have  the  same  character  as 
marginalized  people. 

That  being  said,  would  you  ever  think  about 
leaving  the  place  that  you  're  from? 

Oh  yeah,  absolutely.  1  think  about  it  all  the 
time.  I  think  about  it  every  other  day. 

So  what  keeps  you  in  Winnipeg? 

I  don't  know.  It's  the  place  I  understand  best.  I 
love  it  and  I  hate  it.  It  just  seems  that  I  should 
stay.  And  1  want  to  stay.  1  think  there  will  be 
a  time  when  I'll  go  away  but  I'm  always  go- 
ing to  come  back  there.  It's  always  the  place 
I'm  going  to  return  to.  It's  home  and  even  if 
I  don't  physically  return  there,  I'm  always 
going  to  be  writing  about  that  place.  It's  just 
the  place  I've  figured  out,  I  want  to  try  and 
express  what  I  feel  about  it  and  I  haven't  been 
able  to  do  that  yet.  I've  still  got  some  work 
to  do  on  it.  You  know.  I'm  ne\er  going  to  be 
£      satisfied  and  that's  what  keeps  me  going. 

"5 

"^      Do  you  think  in  general  though,  within  popu- 

g     lur  music,  there's  a  loss  oj  a  sense  of  place'.' 

'^      And  how  does  that  lit  into  a  homogenous. 

*      niiirkcl  culture' 

> 
o 

^  I  ihink  it's  really  hard  to  locate  yourself  any- 
g  where  in  the  world  because  history  seems  to 
•5      be  moving  so  quickly.  We're  in  this  trough 


of  history  that  we  can't  see  out  of.  Anything 
that's  created  is  de\ourcd  and  spat  out  by  the 
market  within  twenty  minutes  of  its  creation. 
It  doesn't  have  time  to  kind  of  grow  and  to 
exist,  which  is  another  reason  why  I'm  in- 
terested in  places  that  are  isolated,  like  small 
towns,  small  cities.  But  you're  right.  It's  a 
strange  time  to  be  alive.  It  seems  really  odd 
to  me. 

Is  it  ever  really  not  a  strange  time  though? 

No,  it's  not.  Yeah,  you're  right,  but  we  have 

our  specific  strangeness  and  pop  music  is  a 

reflection  of  that.   I   think  the 

great    kind    of   flashes 

of  truth   emerge    from 

people  expressing  what 

may  be  mundane  things, 

you  know,  details,  the 

kind  of  nuts  and  bolts 

of  life. 

Doesn  'l  it  drive  you  nuts 
that  those  "isolated" 
places  are  also  striving 
to  he  like  the  homog- 
enized city  centers? 

In  the  city  I'm  from,  the 
focus  is  entirely  that  life 
is  elsewhere,  that  life 
is  going  on  somewhere 
else.  Toronto  is  the  cul- 
tural center  of  Canada.  I 
always  think  of  people  in 
Winnipeg  staring  towards  Toronto  as  people 
in  Toronto  stare  towards  New  York;  no  one  is 
ever  really  looking  at  themselves,  you  know, 
or  looking  at  each  other.  It's  a  weird  feature  in 
a  sped-up  culture,  in  a  culture  that  has  become 
more  and  less  mediated  at  the  sainc  time. 

As  a  songwriter.  I  think  with  this  record,  you 
experimented  more  with  narrative.  "Plea 
From  a  Cat  Named  Virtue.  "  "Dinner  with 
Foucault.  "  What  prompted  that? 

The  narrative? 

Yeah  —  was  it  a  conscious  e.xperimeni? 

Yeah,  it  was  a  conscious  kind  of  experiment. 
I  think  the  last  record  was  fictional  too,  but 
these  ones  are  kind  of,  more  blatantly  fic- 
tional. I  really  wanted  to  kind  of  try  that.  You 
know,  pop  music  is  a  very  emotional  genre. 

Emotionally  driven  as  opposed  to  technically, 
like  classical? 

It's  all  emotional.  Another  John  Bcrger  quote 
is  that  music  began  as  a  howl,  became  a 
prayer,  and  then  a  lament  and  it  still  contains 
elements  of  all  three  That's  a  quote  I  always 
come  back  to  and  I  think  it's  reallv  tme.  It's 


inescapable  and  great.  Part  of  the  great  thing 
about  music  is  that  it  has  these  elements  that 
are  just  there  and  they're  always  going  to  be 
there  for  you.  you  just  walk  into  them. 

With  a  title  like  "Ernest  Shackleton.  "you  ex- 
pect something  pretentious,  but  it  "s  sort  of  this 
bouncy,  .sort  of  a  —  if  s  a  fun  song. 

Yeah.  People  have  been  accusing  me  lately  of 
being  a  bit  pretentious.  I  always  say.  well.  I'd 
rather  err  on  the  side  of  pretension  than  pre- 
tending to  be  stupid.  I  think  that's  a  real  prob- 
lem in  the  life  of  the  American  intellectual. 
There's  a  real  desire  from 
people  — 

To  plead  ignorance. 

Yeah,  to  just  pretend  that 
they  don't  read  books. 
All  these  college  kids  in 
rock  bands  pretending 
that  the>  ha\ent  been 
to  college  and  I'm  like, 
well  —  I  never  went  to 
college,  I  hasen't  been  to 
a  uni\ersity,  I'm  interest- 
ed in  this  stuff.  I'm  not  a 
very  intellectual  person, 
but  I'd  like  to  be.  That's 
w  hat  1  aspire  to  be. 

The  Weakerthans.  would 
you  say  they  are  an  ex- 
periment in   the  greater 
potential  of  pop  music? 

I  wouldn't  go  that  far.  I  mean,  in  my  fanta- 
sy world,  sure,  but  that's  not  for  me  to  say. 
There's  a  real  impulsive  thing  behind  creation 
too  that  you  can't,  that  1  can't,  don't  know 
how  to  intellectualize  and  wouldn't  want  to. 
It's  just  that  impulse  to  make  noise. 

Maybe  that  son  of  leads  back  to.  again, 
academic  debates  about  authenticity  within 
music,  which.  I  mean,  ultimately,  you  just  go 
around  in  circles  again. 

That's  true.  It's  like  when  people  go  up  to  a 
no\elist  and  get  mad  at  them  for  their  stories 
not  being  true.  It's  like.  well,  that's  not  what 
we're  trying  to  do.  There's  an  authenticity  to 
distortion,  you  know.  I  think  —  I  keep  com- 
ing back  to  the  word  reconstruction.  .\  recon- 
struction of  realit\  is  not  necessarily  any  less 
real  than  reality.  It's  always  —  it's  useful  in  a 
way.  to  kind  of  rein\ent  the  world.  "^ 

Cicoigc  Sanchez's  work  Ihis  appealed  in  the 
London  Ciuardian.  Punk  Planet  Mother  Jones. 
and  El  Andar.  among  other  publications. 
Originally  from  .Arcadia.  C.4.  he  now  lives 
in  .Salinas  and  works  as  a  full-time  ix'/wrter 
Write  him  at  gbemanisanchezdaojaol.com 


crp 


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cJ 


Projects  Helping  Projects  Helping  Projects 


wofd  Daniel  Tucker 


Rini  Templeton 


Michael  Wolf  admits  that  what  he  does 
is  essentially  the  same  thing  that  every- 
one else  does.  Informally  sharing  resources 
among  family  and  friends  is  something  that 
most  people  do  just  to  survive,  cut  costs,  or 
save  space.  A  year  ago,  Michael,  an  artist 
living  in  Chicago,  started  the  NCAAV  (the 
Network  of  Casual  Art  Audio  Visual  depart- 
ment) which  lends  out  a  small  pool  of  good 
quality  A/V  equipment  like  video  projectors 
and  cameras  to  "out-of-pocket  initiatives  run 
by  artists  and  activists,  people  whom  I  admire 
and  whose  work  I  want  to  support." 

Asked  about  the  motivation  for  starting 
the  NCAAV  equipment  lending  library  Wolf 
says,  "I  wanted  to  meet  new  people."  Mike 
had  been  an  artist  working  in  fairly  conven- 
tional ways  for  a  while,  making  "pictures 
hung  on  walls."  "I  really  felt  like  that  way  of 
working  was  coming  to  a  dead  end  on  some 
level,  and  I  thought  about  finding  some  way 
to  expand  my  associations.  I  thought  that  a 
way  to  meet  those  people  and  participate  was 
to  play  a  supporting  role  in  the  culture  that  in- 
terested me."  Essentially  what  Mike  gets  out 
of  providing  a  free  service  to  artists  and  activ- 
ists in  need  of  audio/visual  equipment  is  the 
opportunity  to  help  strengthen  a  community 
of  like-minded  individuals,  the  possibility 
of  chance  encounters  with  interesting  artists, 
and  the  occasional  free  ticket  to  a  community 
theatre  event. 

The  work  of  NCAAV,  and  many  other 
similar  projects,  is  part  of  a  long  history  of 
small  and  subversive  groups  of  artist/activists 
creating  their  own  ways  of  sharing  informa- 
tion, skills,  and  ideas  through  informal  and 
non-commercial  networks.  In  the  '60s  and 
'70s  there  were  tool  libraries  and  neighbor- 
hood technology  groups  that  advocated  for 


inner-neighborhood  sustainable  living.  More 
recently,  everything  from  zine  libraries  and 
discussion  groups  to  skill-sharing  events 
have  been  popular,  proving  helpful  as  artists 
and  activists  continuously  try  to  find  ways  to 
build  their  communities. 

A  "platform"  is  an  initiative  that  helps 
to  foster/create/enable  other  initiatives.  Like 
events  in  punk  and  activist  communities 
spawned  by  the  DIY  (do  it  yourselO  ethic, 
platform  projects  attempt  to  create  situations 
that  build  alternatives  to  profit-centered,  im- 
personal, and  unethical  methods  of  exchange. 
Instead,  they  foster  alternative  economies 
where  sharing,  cooperation,  collaboration, 
bartering,  and/or  gift-exchange  are  the  sys- 
tems at  work.  The  platform  created  by  these 
projects  is  not  the  literal  physical  space  or 
stage  for  exchange  seen  in  the  banks  and  in- 
stitutions that  flourish  under  capitalism.  They 
are  more  conceptual  and  virtual  spaces  where 
creative  exchange  occurs,  spawns  more  ex- 
change, and  continuously  expands.  Platforms 
are  projects  that  help  projects  help  projects. 

Graphics  Platforms  and  Reproducible  Art 

Rini  Templeton  dedicated  her  whole  life  to 
creating  easily  reproducible  artwork  primar- 
ily around  Central  American  struggles;  she 
called  it  "xerox"  art.  Her  30-year  history  of 
radical  graphic  art  production  created  some  of 
the  most  easily  recognizable  and  familiar  im- 
ages for  social  justice  and  have  continuously 
been  reproduced  copyright-free  on  placards, 
shirts,  flyers,  and  the  occasional  tattoo.  The 
book  The  Art  of  Rini  Templeton,  in  hath  Span- 
ish and  English:  Where  There  is  Life  and 
Struggle  was  created  as  a  reproducible  port- 
folio and  was  intended  to  further  disseminate 


Templeton 's  graphics  to  a  broader  audience 
for  use  in  political  campaigns. 

The  book  is  out  of  print,  and  Rini  passed 
away  in  1986,  but  the  web  site  created  by  her 
foundation  continues  to  distribute  her  work 
for  free.  The  web  site's  format  is  not  uncom- 
mon these  days;  sites  featuring  downloadable 
materials  for  use  in  political  campaigns  have 
proliferated  in  recent  months.  For  instance, 
see  the  download  section  of  the  Rncnotwel- 
come.org  site  or  the  pictures  of  street  art  col- 
lected at  Stopbushproject.com.  This  mode  of 
information  collection  and  dispersal  is  remi- 
niscent of  an  earlier,  more  centralized  New 
York-based  initiative  of  the  1980s  called  Po- 
litical Art  Documentation/Distribution.  PAD/ 
D  wanted  to  encourage  and  share  tjie  many 
political  street  graphics  of  the  early  1980s,  as 
well  as  serve  as  an  archive  and  a  resource. 

Artists  and  activists  have  always  found 
ways  to  spread  graphics,  images,  content, 
and  slogans  to  create  a  visible  presence  in 
the  world  and  more  engaging  fonns  of  resis- 
tance. The  methods,  though  not  the  strategies, 
pioneered  by  artists  like  Rini  Templeton  and 
collectives  like  PAD/D  have  shifted  with  the 
growth  of  the  Internet.  The  ideas  are  very 
much  the  same  even  though  the  tools  have 
been  updated. 

Web  Tools 

Platform  projects  make  a  lot  of  sense  in  the 
virtual  world.  This  is  partly  the  case  because 
of  the  so-called  democratic  characteristics  of 
the  web.  Anyone  can  have  a  personal  website, 
blog,  or  email  address  and  broadcast  their 
message  to  the  world. 

The  relatively  short  history  of  the  web  is 
filled  with  examples  of  individuals  and  collec- 


o 
o 

01 


lives  using  the  Internet  as  a  way  of  advancing 
issues  of  social  justice,  cultural  expression, 
and  freedom  of  infomiation.  Perhaps  the  most 
obvious  example  is  lndyniedia.org.  Begun  as 
a  means  to  allow  activists  to  post  news  and 
updates  during  the  Seattle  WTO  protests  in 
1999,  lndymedia.org  is  now  the  world's  larg- 
est all-volunteer  organization,  spanning  every 
continent  with  sites  and  subcollectives  doing 
much  of  the  maintenance  to  keep  it  rimning. 
The  open  publishing  format  that  makes  Indy- 
media  possible  is  called  Active.  Active  can 
be  distinguished  froin  most  open  source/pub- 
lishing applications  in  that  its  creators  are  ex- 
plicit about  its  intended  use  towards  the  goals 
of  political  action  and  social  justice.  Active 
software  enables  anyone  to  publish  their  news 
stories  or  announcements  on  lndymedia.org 
anytime  through  their  local  Indymedia  or  that 
of  another  city.  With  similar  goals  in  mind, 
Mute  magazine,  a  London-based  publication 
dedicated  primarily  to  the  intersections  of 
culture,  activism,  and  new  technologies,  has 
recently  launched  a  web  project  called  Open- 
Mute.  According  to  their  web  site,  this  web 
platform  was  created  in  response  to  the  grow- 
ing number  of  "powerful,  free  online  tools 
becom[ing]  available,"  and  the  fact  that  "in- 
dividuals without  relevant  technical  skills  are 
often  unable  to  independently  engage  with 


them."  OpenMute  responded  "by  making  a 
selection  of  trusted  tools  available  from  one, 
easy-to-find,  web  location."  Basically,  what 
OpenMute  provides  is  an  easy-to-use,  pre-de- 
signed  (but  still  flexible)  web  site  which  can 
be  obtained  mostly  for  free  by  art  and  activist 
groups  (though  some  packages  cost  a  small 
fee).  These  feature  the  latest  open  source 
community  building  tools,  allowing  the  site 
owner  to  tailor  his  or  her  site  to  meet  their 
specific  needs.  The  content  can  be  changed 
or  added  using  any  computer  anywhere  that 
has  Internet  access.  The  kinds  of  commu- 
nity building  tools  that  are  available  include: 
News  publishing,  Wiki  (a  "collaborative" 
software  that  allows  multiple  users  to  both 
post  and  edit  each  others  texts),  photo  galler- 
ies, group  calendars,  links,  and  forums. 

Projects  that  help  produce  other  proj- 
ects can  proliferate  and  document  rich  and 
complex  lineages  of  radical  culture  without 
clear  beginnings  or  endings.  The  projects 
mentioned  in  this  article  all  exist  differently 
and  produce  different  ends.  However,  each 
attempts  to  provide  us  with  the  means  to 
achieve  similar  goals:  enabling  small  pockets 
of  political  and  cultural  resistance  to  coinmu- 
nicate  and  to  better  facilitate  our  current  proj- 
ects, and  to  expand  those  efforts  into  larger 
communities.    When  there  is  a  commitment 


to  building  radical  culture  and  resistance, 
these  platforms  only  help  us  expand  in  the 
right  direction,  'tr 

Resources 

For  more  info  on  the  NCAAV: 

www.stopgostop.com/nca/ncaav.html 
For  more  info  on  Active: 

www.active.org.au 
For  more  into  on  OpenMute: 

www.openmute.org 
For  more  about  Rini  Templeton: 

www.riniart.org/ 

Daniel  Tucker  is  an  artist  and  activist  liv- 
ing in  Chicago,  generally  interested  in  art 
that  happens  in  streets,  his  group  projects 
range  from  working  in  several  different  col- 
laborative groups  and  collectives,  to  a  vari- 
ety of  organizing  initiatives  like  microcinema 
screenings  and  discussion  series.  Tucker  is 
currently  sen'ing  as  a  Corresponding  Editor 
of  the  Journal  of  Aesthetics  and  Protest.  He 
is  in  the  process  of  initialing  an  independent 
research  project  about  group  process  and 
organizational  structure  of  activist  oiganiza- 
tions.  Email  him  at  DanielQij,counterproducti 
veindustries.  com 


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A  Poet's  Challenge  to  the  Unelected  President 


fJnJ\^ 


tmoxLatn 


iMnn,  5.  i<mcv.k. :.  I«<l 


Fronl  Kqie 


In  Memoriam 

ISBN  l-40.t.V2708-4 
can  be  ordered  at  local 
bookstores  and  .Amazon. com 
or  downloaded  ($3.95)  at 
Islbooks.coni. 


In  Memoriam  was  originally  inspired  by  a  person  full  ot  hope, 
curiosity,  and  goodness,  Tatiana  Prosvimina,  a  student  who  died 
at  the  age  of  seventeen.  The  later  poems  of  the  collection  were 
written  in  response  to  the  reckless  and  immoral  celebration 
of  the  militarism  of  the  Bush  Administration.  After  the  9-1 1 
attacks  the  worid  needed  \  ision.  humanity,  and  sophistication; 
instead  it  got  blind,  simple-mind  ed  w  annongenng.  The  Bush 
Administration's  selfish  commitment  to  war  and  wealth  has 
been  barbaric,  obscene,  and  monstrous. 

The  Administration's  declaration  of  global  war  on 
terror  is  an  antedilu\ ian  approach  to  finding  ways  to  address 
the  world's  problems  of  sectarian  conflict,  organized  crime. 
o\erpopulalion.  po\erty.  hunger,  despair,  increasingK  \iruleni 
diseases.  en\  ironmenlal  depredation,  reckless  depletion  of 
global  resources,  and  degradation  of  traditional  cultures  b>  the 
West's  culture  of  consumption,  amusement,  and  spectacle. 

That  so  many  Americans  voted  against  George  Bush 
indicates  that  many  millions  of  Americans  arc  still  inspired 
by  a  romantic  idealism  and  spirituality  rooted  not  in  blind 
nationalism  but  m  the  love  of  famiK  and  communilN  and  in  a 
reverence  for  nature -Ciod's  handiwork.  This  is  a  spintuality 
of  lo\e,  not  hate,  a  spiritualii\  'of  the  sacred  moment,  not  of 
an  eager  anticipation  of  .Amiageddon,  a  spirituality  of  shanng. 
not  of  greed,  a  spirituality  that  comes  fix»m  living  wisely,  not 
simplemindedly. 

It  will  be  task  of  Tatiana 's  generation  to  rcstorc  spiritual 
health  to  an  American  way  of  life  that  has  become  obscenely 
wasteful  and  destructive  of  habitat,  human  and  natural,  of 
families  and  ci>mmunities,  and  o\'  individuals.  It  will  be  this 
younger  generation  that  will  reestablish  America's  moral 
authonty  in  the  world  and  make  .America  a  force  ot  ginxi  for 
all  human  beings 


I 


!»' 


J.  s- 


"li 


m 


GLASS  HOUSE 


Margaret  Morton 

160  pages  1 74  b&w  photographs  |  S34.95  cloth 


'Margaret  Morton's  Glass  House  is  an  important,  richly 
evocative,  and  very  moving  bool(.  It  may  be  an  illustrated 
work  of  oral  history,  but  it  has  the  momentum  of  narrative. 
The  characters  come  fully  alive  and  most  become  quite 
attaching.  Even  if  we've  known  all  along  that  the  story  will 
end  with  a  violent  eviction,  by  the  time  the  end  comes  it  is 


still  shocking." 


—  Luc  Sante 


Donny  In  his  space. 


820  N.  University  Drive,  USB  1,  Suite  C  I  University  Park,  PA  16802  I  fax  1-877-778-2665  I  www.psupress.org 

AVAILABLE  IN  BOOKSTORES.  OR  ORDER  TOLL  FREE  1-800-326-9180 

READ  DONNY'S  STORY  ONLINE  ATWWW.PSUPRESS.ORG 


kniii|liiirHi(nw!i(liliiiimnHi| 


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The  Right  UUing  on  College  Campuses 

oncl  the 


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iberal  Arts  faculties  at  most 


Jon  R.Pike 


and  philosophically  one-sided, 
while  partisan  propagandizing 
often  intrtides  into  classroom  dis- 
course. It  is  appropriate  for  faculty 
to  want  open-minded  students  in 
their  classes,  not  disciples."  This 
dire  quote  about  academia  is  on 
the  webs  ite  of  a  group  called  Stu- 
dents for  Academic  Freedom,  a 

Washington  D.C.-based  group  supported  by  rig  conservative  activist 
David  Horowitz.  What  the  quote  doesn't  say  is  that  the  group  only  ap- 
proaches this  issue  from  one  side  and  that  the  group's  mission  is  to  win 
the  war  of  words  on  this  issue  using  a  tactic  called  "framing." 

In  a  1993  scholarly  article  one  of  framing's  chief  theorists,  Rob- 
ert Entman,  defined  framing  as,  "to  select  some  aspects  of  a  perceived 
reality  and  make  them  more  salient  in  a  communicating  text,  in  such 
a  way  as  to  promote  a  particular  problem  definition,  causal  interpreta- 
tion, moral  evaluation,  and/or  treatment  recommendation  for  the  item 
described."  Like  a  picture  frame,  framing  shows  some  parts  of  the 
world  outside  the  window,  but  not  all.  Framing  is  successful  when  it 
becomes  part  of  the  media  discourse. 

In  December  of  2003,  the  Colorado  State  Legislature  heard  from 
students  and  faculty  about  alleged  persecution  of  conservatives  on 
campus.  Brian  Glotzbach.  a  student  who  worked  at  the  bookstore  at 
Metro  State  University  in  Denver,  said  that  while  conservative  au- 
thors like  Sean  Hannity  were  not  making  it  on  to  required  reading 
lists,  authors  like  Michael  Moore  were.  About  30  students  and  fac- 
ulty members  were  there  to  testify  in  favor  of  a  nationally  promoted 
measure  called  the  Academic  Bill  of  Rights.  Coverage  of  this  hearing 
by  the  Rocky  Moiintain  News  demonstrates  that  the  ft-ame  has  been 
successfully  embedded  in  this  paper's  coverage.  The  article  says  that 
the  Academic  Bill  of  Rights  is  "a  proposal  to  ensure  political  diversity 


BoHle 
of  the 
Frame 


Matthew  Andrews 


on  campus."  The  article  goes  on  to 
say,  "The  bill  was  dropped  by  its 
sponsor  earlier  this  month  after  he 
received  assurances  from  officials 
of  several  colleges  that  students 
would  be  protected  against  dis- 
crimination for  their  views."  The 
article  carries  the  fi^ame  that  con- 
servative students  are  being  per- 
secuted for  their  views  and  need 
protection. 
This  frame  has  traveled  through  Colorado,  Georgia,  Missouri, 
Michigan,   Oklahoma,   Massachusetts,   California,  Utah,  Washing- 
ton, and  Ohio,  where  state  legislators  supported  an  Academic  Bill  of 
Rights.  Student  governments  at  Brown,  University  of  Montana,  and 
Utah  State  passed  resolutions  supporting  measures  similar  to  the  Aca- 
demic Bill  of  Rights.  Chapters  of  Students  for  Academic  Freedom  ex- 
ist on  135  college  campuses.  The  frame  is  traveling  through  the  media 
as  well,  as  a  search  of  the  Proudest  database  shows  that  over  the  last 
year,  at  least  69  newspapers  and  newsweeklies  covered  this  issue. 

But,  as  a  picture  frame  only  shows  part  of  the  view,  a  news  frame 
tells  only  part  of  the  story.  Students  for  Academic  Freedom  encourage 
members  to  keep  records  on  the  party  affiliation  of  faculty.  This  has 
already  produced  faulty  data.  According  to  data  compiled  by  Horow- 
itz's Center  for  the  Study  of  Popular  Culture,  registered  Democrats  at 
32  schools  far  outnumber  registered  Republicans.  However,  an  even 
greater  number  are  listed  as  unaffiliated.  A  footnote  says  the  unaf- 
filiated category  includes  faculty  for  whom  they  could  not  find  voting 
records.  The  categories  are  blurred.  There  is  also  no  way  of  know- 
ing how  many  of  the  registered  faculty  are  conservative  Democrats 
or  liberal  Republicans.  There  is  no  justification  for  the  conclusion  that 
"most  students  probably  graduate  without  ever  having  a  class  taught 
by  a  professor  with  a  conservative  viewpoint."  Also,  keeping  track  of 
party  affiliation  just  doesn't  sound  like  a  non-partisan  activity. 


o 
o 


tk 

« 


A  survey  by  the  Center  that  purports  to 
show  that  Ivy  League  faeulty  have  an  o\er- 
whehningly  left-wing  bias  has  an  unaccept- 
ably  high  sampling  error  of  plus  or  minus  8 
percent.  A  5  percent  margin  of  error  is  the 
usual  acceptable  limit  for  survey  research. 
This  high  sampling  error  comes  from  the 
fact  that  the  survey  got  responses  from  only 
151  faculty  members  from  all  the  ivy  League 
Schools.  Statistician  Howard  Feinberg  raised 
questions  about  the  sample  size  in  an  article 
for  the  liberal  Internet  magazine,  Altemet.  He 
wanted  to  know  if  the  pollster  hired  to  con- 
duct the  survey  only  intended  to  survey  that 
number  of  professors,  or  if  that  was  all  that 


resolution  supporting  the  Academic  Bill  of 
Rights,  in  the  most  recent  session  of  Con- 
gress with  36  sponsors.  It  was  referred  from 
the  House  Committee  on  Education  and  the 
Workforce  to  a  subcommittee  but  had  no  fur- 
ther action  taken  on  it.  Beyond  the  attention 
to  the  Academic  Bill  of  Rights  at  the  state  and 
federal  levels,  there  are  other  concerns.  The 
frame  has  already  been  established  and  when 
the  issue  resurfaces,  reporters  who  are  famil- 
iar with  it  will  likely  return  to  those  frames. 
.And  reporters  unfamiliar  with  the  issue  may 
draw  information  from  articles  using  those 
frames. 

The  issue  will  come  up  again.  An  Au- 


together  and  one  person  could  play  the  role  of 
a  hostile  interviewer. 

Another  step  should  be  to  take  a  page 
from  conservatives  and  organizing  national- 
ly. Thankfully,  students  and  faculty  on  the  left 
are  beginning  to  recognize  the  seriousness  of 
the  right  winning  this  war  of  frames.  For  in- 
stance. University  of  Southern  California  stu- 
dent Joshua  Holland,  editor  of  that  school's 
left-of-center,  Trojan  Horse,  is  calling  for 
liberals  and  progressives  on  today's  college 
campuses  to  develop  a  long-term  vision  on 
this  issue.  The  stakes  are  high  and  the  right 
wants  to  win  this  war.  Holland  warns  that  the 
next  generation  of  conservatives  will  be  even 


...  framing  isn't  o  rotionol  argument,  it*s  a  story.  IF  the  frame  of  campuses  dominated  by  left-ujing 
professors  is  accepted  then  it  doesn't  matter  if  the  data  used  to  support  that  position  is  faulty. 


o 
o 


o 
in 


they  could  get.  He  didn't  get  a  response. 

But  framing  isn't  a  rational  argument, 
it's  a  story.  If  the  frame  of  campuses  dominat- 
ed by  left-wing  professors  is  accepted  then  it 
doesn't  matter  if  the  data  used  to  support  that 
position  is  faulty.  An  April  13.  2004  editorial 
in  the  Washington  Times  repeated  the  survey's 
results  with  no  mention  of  the  sample  size  or 
margin  of  error  While  the  Washington  Times 
is  a  conservative  news  source,  framing  is  suc- 
cessful the  more  it  gets  repeated. 

A  May  23,  2004  article  from  the  Chris- 
tian Science  Monitor,  speaks  of  the  frame 
when  reporting  about  the  congressional  and 
state  initiatives  to  support  the  Academic  Bill 
of  Rights,  "Horowitz,  who  wrote  the  bill,  said 
it  was  intended  to  protect  conservative  aca- 
demics from  discrimination  on  overwhelm- 
ingly liberal  campuses."  This  is  the  frame  in 
its  entirety,  reported  as  objective  news.  Los 
Angeles  Times  syndicated  columnist,  David 
Kelly,  wrote  in  a  November  29,  2003  col- 
umn: "Some  students  have  complained  of  be- 
ing forced  to  attend  abortion-rights  rallies,  of 
being  required  to  write  essays  critical  of  the 
Bush  administration  and  of  having  a  strident 
anti-religion  agenda  pushed  on  them.  Some 
who  protested  have  said  they  received  poor 
grades  or  were  asked  to  leave  the  class." 
Kelly  provides  no  evidence  for  these  charges. 
But,  again,  a  frame  isn't  an  argument,  it  is  a 
story.  A  March,  1 6,  2004  USA  Today  article 
adds  to  the  story  as  it  discusses  the  movement 
"to  create  an  'academic  bill  of  rights'  for  col- 
lege campuses,  which  sponsors  say  would 
promote  intellectual  diversity  among  faculty 
and  protect  students  whose  political  views 
dilTer  from  those  of  their  professors."  This 
(.luole  carries  the  frame. 

(iei)rgia  Republican  House  Member, 
.lack    Kingsinn.   miroiluccd  a  conyressional 


gust  14,  2004  Gannet  wire  story  says  lan- 
guage from  the  Academic  Bill  of  Rights 
is  in  a  student  financial  aid  bill.  The  article 
quotes  Republican  Floward  McKeon  of  Cali- 
fornia, chaimian  of  the  House  subcommittee 
in  charge  of  this  bill,  who  says  this  language 
is  designed  to  send  a  message  to  liberal  aca- 
demic officials:  "You're  using  the  school  in 
many  cases  to  brainwash  and  not  to  educate." 
This  quote  assumes  that  all  blame  can  be  put 
on  faculty  associated  with  the  left. 

But,  frames  can  just  as  easily  be  used 
on  one  side  of  the  political  spectrum  as  the 
other.  In  her  book,  "Prime-Time  Activ  ism," 
sociologist  Charlotte  Ryan  provides  detailed 
case  studies  of  groups  that  hav  e  used  frames 
well.  People  opposed  to  US  foreign  policy 
in  Central  America  had  to  work  against  a 
powerful  frame  to  justify  military  aid  to  the 
government  of  El  Salvador  and  the  Nicara- 
guan  contras.  This  was  the  frame  of  Soviet 
expansion  in  Central  America.  A  frame  used 
to  counter  this  was  the  "Human  Cost  of  War," 
which  stated  that  US  policy  caused  death  and 
injurv  to  civilians  and  was  not  helping  the 
most  vulnerable. 

Ryan  says  that  those  involved  in  issues 
that  largely  proceed  from  a  liberal,  or  left 
wing  perspective,  are  often  fighting  a  losing 
war  in  the  media  as  they  often  operate  on  a 
story-by-story  basis.  This  is  especially  inef- 
ficient, as  these  groups  do  not  have  the  re- 
sources to  regularly  manage  news.  She  says 
that  there  are  a  few  simple  steps  any  group 
can  use  in  the  war  of  the  frame.  The  first  step 
is  to  identify  the  frame.  The  second  step  is 
to  monitor  news  coverage  and  see  how  the 
frame  is  being  used.  Third.  Rvan  savs  that 
people  have  to  recogni/e  that  frames  are  sto- 
ries, not  logical  arguments.  Lastly,  she  sug- 
gests rehearsing  frames    ,\  group  could  get 


more  dogmatic  and  uncompromising  than  the 
ones  in  pow  er  today.  The  ground  the  right  has 
gained  in  the  battle  of  the  frames  doesn't  hav  e 
to  be  lost  to  the  left  forever,  'ii 

For  more  information: 

www.  Studentsforacademicfreedom.org 

Jon  R  Pike  is  a  Ph.D.  siuJeni  in  communica- 
tion at  North  Dakota  Slate  Lniversity  in  Far- 
go. He  researches  and  writes  about  media  is- 
sues and  how  activists  are  using  the  Internet. 
He  is  writing  a  hook  chapter  on  Moveon.org 
for  the  hook  Cv  bermedia  Go  To  War  which  is 
scheduled  to  he  released  in  .August  of  2005. 
He  can  he  reached  at  pmfpike(a  yahoo.com. 


SAVE  THE  DATE! 
June  17-19,  2005 


Dancing  with  the  Devil  Hv. 


For  activists,  using  mainstream  media  to  get  a  message  out 
can  be  an  effective  strategy  —  not  just  a  necessary  evil. 

word^  Peter  Wirth  photo  Brandon  Constant 


Martin  Luther  King  Jr.  had  a  favorite  saying.  "One  tiny  httle  min- 
ute, just  sixty  seconds  in  it.  I  can't  refuse.  I  dare  not  abuse  it.  It's 
up  to  me  to  use  it."  Today  we  call  it  the  sound  bite. 

King  and  Andrew  Young,  the  resident  Southern  Christian  Lead- 
ership Conference  expert  dealing  with  the  media,  understood  the  im- 
portance of  the  role  of  the  media  in  the  civil  rights  movement.  King 
and  Young  emphasized  the  need  for  a  new  kind  of  daily  message,  one 
that  was  visual,  that  would  dramatize  the  purpose  of  the  campaign  and 
bring  public  opinion  to  their  side. 

Activists  and  the  Media  Today 

It  is  highly  unlikely  that  a  handful  of  activists,  no  matter  how  dedicat- 
ed, will  achieve  broad  social  change  if  the  majority  of  the  public  does 
not  support  their  efforts  or  sympathize  with  their  goals.  To  be  success- 
ful in  progressive  campaigns  involving  public  policy  issues  today,  we 
need  to  mobilize  public  opinion  to  support  our  efforts. 

In  35  years  of  working  both  as  an  activist  and  public  relations 
consultant.  I  have  been  involved  with  a  number  of  activist  issues  — 
the  war  in  Iraq,  civil  rights  of  Arab  Americans,  US  policy  in  Latin 
America  and  the  Caribbean,  recycling  issues,  refugee  concerns,  rac- 
ism, organized  labor,  and  occupational  safety  issues.  Through  my  ex- 
periences, two  dominant  messages  stand  out  regarding  activists  and 
the  mass  media. 


First,  lack  of  coverage  of  activist  issues  and  events  is  often  ex- 
plained by  "corporate  control  of  the  media"  or  "the  media  doesn't  care 
about  our  events."  But  lack  of  media  coverage  can  result  from  poor 
press  work  or  a  flawed  media  strategy.  One  prevailing  attitude  is  that 
the  media  owes  activists  coverage  regardless  of  what  we  do.  This  at- 
titude can  produce  an  environment  where  developing  public  relations 
skills  is  a  low  priority,  allocating  little  resources  to  media  relations 
training  and  failing  to  integrate  a  media  plan  as  part  of  an  overall 
strategy.  Second,  press  work  is  much  different  than  most  activist  ac- 
tivities. Press  work  by  nature  is  a  solitary  activity.  It  is  you  and  the 
media  —  a  reporter,  editor,  or  producer.  You  draft  a  press  release  and 
make  a  "pitch"  to  an  individual.  It  is  essentially  sales,  with  a  different 
emotional  feel  than  demonstrations,  civil  disobedience,  and  commu- 
nity projects.  These  are  empowering  and  inspiring  experiences  that 
create  bonds  and  solve  problems.  But  for  most  activists,  press  work 
doesn't  have  that  empowering  result. 

You  and  many  other  individuals  are  also  competing  for  limited 
"news  holes."  Newsrooms  receive  dozens  if  not  hundreds  of  press 
releases  everyday  from  nonprofit  organization,  politicians,  advocacy 
groups,  cultural  groups,  and  businesses.  Your  chances  for  success  in 
selling  your  piece  of  news,  event,  speaker,  or  op-ed  article  are  de- 
pendent on  a  number  of  factors.  Your  knowledge  of  what  an  editor  or 
reporter  is  looking  for,  and  your  working  relationship  with  reporters, 
are  key.  Reporters  are  always  facing  deadlines,  and  appreciate  prompt 


o 


Besides  the  obvious  benefit  of  getting  your  message  before  a  larger  audience,  press  work  also  forces 
an  organization  to  integrate  into  the  community  and  engage  people  with  issues  and  ideas. 


o 
o 


return  calls  and  emails,  discussing  human-interest  aspects  of  the  issue, 
and  suggesting  supplemental  sources  for  the  story. 

Press  work  can  be  extremely  frustrating.  You  can  do  everything 
right  and  still  get  your  story  bumped  by  a  breaking  news  event  or 
change  in  an  assignment  desk  editor.  If  you  are  turned  down,  be  per- 
sistent, patient,  and  skillful  enough  to  see  other  news  angles  in  the 
story  to  pitch  at  a  later  time. 

Press  Work  and  the  Community 

There  is  a  tendency  with  any  organization  to  be  insular.  Activist  orga- 
nizations are  no  different.  Newsletters,  speaking  presentations,  videos, 
and  web  sites  are  all  appropriate  means  of  communication.  But  they 
arc  often  self-selecting,  reaching  only  a  limited  audience. 

Besides  the  obvious  benefit  of  getting  your  message  before  a 
larger  audience,  press  work  also  forces  an  organization  to  integrate 
into  the  community  and  engage  people  with  issues  and  ideas. 

Preaching  to  the  choir  will  not  change  the  people  in  the  pews. 
If  your  position  is  a  minority  one,  you  need  to  be  able  to  reach  out  to 
those  people  who  have  a  different  view.  Using  language  and  symbols 
that  many  people  relate  to  will  help  send  your  message  to  the  largest 
audience  possible.  For  example,  the  colors  red,  white,  and  blue  and  the 
American  flag  are  important  symbols  to  many  Americans,  even  those 
supporting  peace,  justice,  and  social  change.  Consider  using  these 
symbols  in  your  anti-war  banners  and  flyers. 

In  the  process  of  drafting  a  press  release,  making  a  pitch  to  news 
producer,  or  writing  an  op-ed  piece,  reflect  on  what  language  will  res- 
onate with  the  largest  audience  possible.  When  reporters  begin  a  story, 
one  of  the  first  questions  they  ask  is  "Why  should  the  public  care?" 
When  you're  preparing  to  talk  to  local  TV,  radio,  and  newspaper  edi- 
tors, ask  (and  answer)  the  same  question.  If  you're  planning  an  anti- 
war demonstration,  find  out  which  residents  have  family  members 
stationed  in  Iraq,  or  if  there  are  any  veterans  who  will  speak  against 
the  war.  If  you're  holding  a  forum  on  civil  liberties,  find  a  community 
member  who  many  have  been  a  target  of  repression.  Look  for  ways  to 
demonstrate  that  your  issue  affects  the  community  at  large. 

The  Media  Relations  Budget 

Most  activist  organizations  run  on  shoestring  budgets.  However,  me- 
dia relations  can  be  cheap  and  significant  coverage  can  be  generated 
on  a  limited  budget.  Press  releases  can  be  sent  across  the  countrv'  and 
around  the  world  for  little  or  no  money  by  e-mail  and  fax  from  your 
computer,  or  even  from  the  local  library.  Your  local  issue  might  appeal 
to  national  or  even  international  media  outlets,  and  potentially  reach 
thousands  of  people  in  the  process. 

For  example,  when  a  local  activist  and  engineer  partnered  w ith 
Pastors  for  Peace  on  a  trip  to  Cuba  to  deliver  medical  supplies  and 
work  to  end  the  embargo,  we  devised  an  effective,  but  cheap  media 
outreach  campaign.  A  volunteer  committee  was  formed  and  within  a 
two-month  period,  the  group  generated  about  40  news  inter\  iews  for 
the  price  of  a  few  postage  stamps. 

The  following  events  were  used  as  "news  pegs"  to  pitch  the  story 
to  local  media  outlets:  an  upcoming  fundraiser  for  the  trip;  the  arrival 
and  departure  of  the  caravan  from  Syracuse;  passing  the  Mexican  bor- 
der; the  am\  al  in  Cuba,  and  the  return  to  Syracu.se. 

We  also  got  creative  and  pitched  sending  a  reporter  to  (  uba  to 


the  Syracuse  newspapers.  To  sell  the  idea,  we  emphasized  the  stream 
of  visitors  from  Syracuse  to  Cuba  over  the  years  and  the  Cuban  refijge 
population  in  Syracuse.  The  reporter  wrote  a  series  of  1 3  articles.  In 
the  end,  the  story  garnered  radio  and  TV  news  and  talk  show  cover- 
age, newspaper  articles,  and  a  meeting  with  a  news  editorial  board  to 
discuss  why  the  US  embargo  on  Cuba  should  be  lifted. 

The  Future  for  Activists 

Generating  news  coverage  is  a  skill  that  needs  to  be  developed,  but 
it  is  not  as  difficult  as  many  activists  would  believe.  It  does  require 
basic  writing  and  communication  skills.  An  outgoing  personality,  a 
dose  of  humility  and  persistence  also  helps  -  qualities  many  activists 
already  have. 

The  more  proficient  activists  become  at  writing  press  releases, 
understanding  timing  and  news  pegs,  being  persistent  and  following- 
up,  deseloping  relationships  with  reporters,  and  creating  acti\ities 
with  the  media  in  mind,  the  more  news  coverage  they  will  generate. 

The  activist  community  is  barely  scratching  the  surface  of  what 
is  possible  w  ith  media  relations,  and  the  result  getting  their  message 
out  to  the  largest  audience  possible. 

The  lessons  of  Martin  Luther  King  and  the  Ci\  il  Rights  Mo\  e- 
ment  and  their  strategic  use  of  the  media  are  clear.  The  ability  to  gen- 
erate significant  press  coverage  can  change  public  opinion,  and  conse- 
quently public  policy. 

Representative  John  Lewis.  D-Georgia.  was  a  young  college 
student  in  1965  when  he  led  more  than  600  marchers  along  US 
Route  80  in  Selma.  Alabama,  in  a  peacefiil  protest  for  voting  rights. 
Many  of  the  marchers,  including  Lewis,  were  beaten  by  state  and  lo- 
cal police  when  they  reached  the  Edmund  Pettus  Bridge  six  blocks 
away.  But  the  media  coverage  of  "Bloody  Sunday"  and  other  Civ- 
il Rights  demonstrations  helped  to  change  public  opinion  across 
the  country.  Five  months  later.  President  Lvndon  Johnson  signed 
the  voting  rights  act.  "Without  the  media,"  said  Lewis.  "The  civil 
rights  movement  would  ha\e  been  like  a  bird  without  wings."    "tr 

For  more  in  formation: 

Media  Relations  Conference:  Pricey  but  worth  e\er\  penny.  Taped 
sessions  are  available  for  purchase  at  wa\w. infocomgroup.com 

Bacon's:  National  Media  Directories  and  Electronic  Databa.se  Ser- 
vices —  www.bacons.com 

U.S.  Newswire:  Electronic  distribution  scrNice  for  news  releases;  rea- 
sonably priced  —  vvwvv.usnewswire.com. 

Talkers  Magazine:  The  bible  of  talk  radio  and  the  new  talk  media 
—  www.talkers.com 

Bulldog's  Reporter  National  PR  Pitch  Book:  wvvw.infocomgroup. 
com 

Pcwr  Wirth  is  CEO  of  GfV  Associates,  a  progressive  public  relations 
consulting  firm.  For  aiUitional  info  go  to  WMWcome. to 'public. inter- 
est.media.  He  can  be  reached  at  pwirthifi  accucom.net. 


N 

in 


The  Indypendent 

ells  Out? 


NYC  Indymedia  editors  wrestle  with  the 

age-old  publishing  question  —  does  accepting  paid 

advertising  change  the  media  you  make? 

Courtney  E.  Martin 


The  Indypendent.  the  newspaper  of  the 
New  York  City  Independent  Media 
Center,  negotiated  a  $20,000  advertisement 
contract  with  clothing-maker  American 
Apparel.  Not  only  do  these  dollars  double  the 
grassroots  paper's  total  budget  (last  year  it 
was  about  SI 8,000),  but  they  could  add  up  to 
an  impending  shift  in  philosophy  among  the 
global  Indymedia  network. 

According  to  its  web  site,  Indymedia.org 
is  a  "network  of  collectively  run  media  out- 
lets for  the  creation  of  radical,  accurate,  and 
passionate  tellings  of  the  truth."  This  lofty 
mission  was  bom  during  the  World  Trade 
Organization  protests  in  Seattle  in  1999.  Its 
work  as  a  hub  for  independent  journalists  and 
producer  of  up-to-the-minute  online  coverage 
propelled  IMC  into  worldwide  notoriety  as  a 
leader  in  independent  alternative  media.  IMC 
urged  everyone  -  laymen  and  experts  alike 
—  to  "become  the  media." 

Independent  Media  Centers  (IMC)  all 
over  the  world  have  realized  this  dream  in 
various  ways,  but  most  focus  on  the  Internet. 
There  arc  no  official  numbers,  but  IMC  esti- 
mates that  Indymedia  as  a  whole  has  between 
500,000  and  two  million  page  views  a  day. 
Unlike  most  other  IMC's,  the  New  York  City 
center  has  poured  substantial  effort  into  pro- 
ducing a  print  newspaper.  The  Indypendent  is 
distributed  all  over  the  five  boroughs  at  cul- 


tural centers,  clubs,  coffee  houses,  and  events 
—  anywhere,  essentially,  where  potential 
readers  hang  out  —  because  as  Jed  Brandt, 
advertising  editor,  explained,  "Contrary  to 
what  people  seem  to  think,  not  everyone  in 
New  York  City  has  a  computer."  The  newspa- 
per is  grassroots  through  and  through,  boast- 
ing no  board  of  directors,  no  editor-in-chief, 
and  very  few  paid  staff  members. 

Given  its  roots,  it  is  logical  that  IMC  is 
philosophically  tied  up  with  the  anti-consum- 
crism/anti-corporation  movement.  Many  of 
IMC's  writers,  editors,  and  designers  are  not 
only  media  activists,  but  are  involved  in  the 
growing  movement  against  the  almost  total 
infiltration  of  advertising  into  our  daily  lives. 
Brandt  says,  "I  remember  first  coming  to  New 
York  City  as  a  little,  little  kid  and  it  was  like 
a  playground  to  me.  There  were  murals  ev- 
erywhere, parks  had  jugglers  and  musicians 
. . .  there  was  this  idea  that  there  was  a  civic 
space."  He  pauses,  takes  a  drag  of  his  ciga- 
rette, and  then  goes  on.  "Now  the  entire  city 
is  draped  in  advertising;  murals  turned  into 
giant  vinyl  ad  wraps." 

The  Indypendent  has  had  no  significant 
or  consistent  source  of  funding  in  its  three 
years  of  existence.  No  big  foundation.  No 
trust  fund  kids.  Not  even  a  liberal  think  tank 
has  offered  to  help  out.  So  what  does  a  group 
of  activists  and  writers  do  if  it  is    against 


advertising  in  principle,  but  has  to  fund  and 
grow  a  grassroots  newspaper  with  virtually 
no  financial  support? 

That's  the  $20,000  question. 

Brandt  rephrased  the  dilemma  that  his 
colleagues  and  he  face  at  the  Indypendent. 
"Are  we  trying  to  create  a  space  that  tran- 
scends the  problems  of  the  world  or  are  we 
creating  a  medium  for  exchange  of  informa- 
tion broadly?  Basically,  is  it  our  content  or 
our  form  that  is  most  important?" 

Brandt's  own  answer  is  content.  After 
being  part  of  the  exhausting  struggle  to  raise 
funds  through  grassroots  organizing  (mostly 
consisting  of  house  parties),  Brandt  contends 
that  it  is  just  too  much  time  and  energy  taken 
away  from  the  real  purpose  —  publishing 
the  paper.  The  ad  from  American  Apparel 
—  a  clothing  company  that  prides  itself  on 
its  commitment  to  the  living  wage  and  envi- 
ronmental protection  —  will  bring  in  more 
money  with  its  summer-long  back  page  ad 
than  the  Indypendent  was  able  to  raise  all  of 
last  year. 

Further,  the  option  of  applying  for  fund- 
ing from  liberal  foundations  and  think-tanks 
has  proved  fruitless  and  controversial  as 
well.  Even  if  the  Indypendent  were  able  to 
find  such  support  —  which  seems  unlikely  to 
staff  members  —  there  are  concerns  about  be- 
ing beholden  to  the  foundation's  philosophy. 


o 
o 


U 


Such  an  arrangement  could,  m  the  long  run.  intluence  their  content 
in  opposition  to  their  mission:  keeping  the  media  untangled  from  the 
sticky  web  of  moneyed  politics.  The  IMC  is  technically  a  non-partisan 
enterprise  and  wants  to  stay  that  way.  In  theory,  accepting  an  ad  from 
a  capitalist  company  may  raise  questions  about  the  ethics  of  advertis- 
ing, but  the  integrity  of  the  content  can  be  maintained  through  editorial 
policy. 

Other  newspapers  in  the  IMC"  network,  though  few  and  far  be- 
tween, have  chosen  to  avoid  testing  that  theory,  instead  relying  on 
grassroots  fundraising  that  the  Indypendent  has  now  abandoned. 
Sascha  Meinrath.  co-founder  of  the  Urbana-Champaign  IMC  and  con- 
tributor to  their  ad-free  monthly  nev\  spaper.  Public  I.  pines  for  "altru- 
istic venture  capitalists  supporting  programs  like  the  Piihlic  J  and  the 
Indypendent."  He  doesn't  believe  that  Public  I  should  include  ads  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  recognizes  that  "advertising  provides  one  pragmatic 
solution  that  can  often  mean  the  difference  between  these  organiza- 
tions and  projects  staying  afloat  or  ceasing  to  exist."  Further.  Meinrath 
explained.  "I  trust  that  the  Indypendent  staffers  will  not  allow  their 
content,  or  their  radicalism,  to  be  affected  by  this  decision." 

Though  there  has  been  some  debate  over  the  ad  contract  within 
the  Indymedia  community,  the  staff  is  hesitant  to  label  it  "controver- 
sy." There  have  been  few  voices  of  resistance,  Brandt  reported,  but 
added,  "For  every  person  who  doesn't  want  advertising:  feel  free  to 
cut  us  a  check  and  we  will  give  you  a  space  that  says  'no  ad  here.'"  In 
fact,  out  of  the  dozen  people  1  spoke  to  in  the  IMC  community,  none 
had  a  decidedly  anti-ad  stance. 

Chris  Anderson,  who  originally  wrote  the  ad  policy  and  has 
been  involved  in  the  Indypendent  for  over  two  years,  has  no  moral 
qualms  about  the  ad  or  American  Apparel,  but  does  worry  about  the 
Indypendent  s  ability  to  handle  the  potential  growth.  "Money  changes 


everything."  he  explained.  "I  hope  our  process  and  structure  are  strong 
enough  to  handle  the  infusion  of  cash." 

As  Anderson  knows,  with  big  success  comes  big  responsibility. 
The  philosophical  questions,  it  seems,  will  just  keep  getting  more  com- 
plicated —  especially  given  the  grassroots  nature  of  the  organization. 
According  to  the  web  site,  Indymedia  is  currently  developing  a  global 
decision-making  process  that  will  enable  all  IMCs  to  make  decisions 
that  affect  the  whole  network.  It  states.  "The  current  proposal  is  for 
Indymedia  to  form  a  global  spokescouncil'  that  will  confirm  deci- 
sions on  global  Indymedia  issues  that  local  IMCs  have  made  through 
their  own  decision-making  processes."  The  Indypendent's  decision  to 
accept  large-scale  advertising,  then,  could  influence  the  dialogue  and 
decision-making  process  of  the  future  council.  The  Indypendent's  bold 
move  to  prioritize  content  and  make  life  a  little  easier  through  adver- 
tising may  become  an  important  philosophical  statement  in  the  future 
of  alternative  media,  even  spilling  from  print  to  the  Web  page. 

Meinrath  reflected.  "The  continuing  success  of  the  global 
Indymedia  network  is  predicated  upon  mutual  trust,  respect,  and  rela- 
tive autonomy  of  individual  IMCs.  We  are  voluntarily  aflfiliated  be- 
cause we  share  common  goals  of  supporting  participatory  media  and 
amplifying  the  voices  and  perspectives  that  the  dominant  media  would 
rather  ignore.  Some  IMCs  will  probably  decide  to  use  advertising  to 
raise  revenue;  as  long  as  the  overarching  goals  and  mission  of  the 
network  is  respected,  I  believe  that  the  individuals  on  the  streets  and 
in  their  communities  know  best  how  to  achie\  e  these  goals."  "A" 

Courtney  E.  Martin  is  a  writer,  teacher  and  filmmaker  living  in 
Brooklyn.  She  can  be  reached  at  cem  1231  @hotmail.  com. 


What  is  Indymedia? 


Looking  at  the  past  and  future  of  Independent  Media  Centers 
on  the  five-year  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  a  movement. 


Most  stories  in  the  U.S.  are  told 
by  five  major  corporations  that 
determine,  in  part,  who  lives 
and  who  dies,  who  is  important, 
and  who  is  not.  Dinner  table 
conversationalists,  voters,  and 
elected  leaders  hum  along  with 
CNN  and  Fox  News.  Yet,  adhering  to 
tradition,  we  still  stage  protests  on 
the  White  House  lawn,  as  though 
that  IS  where  meaning  is  made. 

In  this  world,  capital  is  free  to 
roam,  but  the  movement  of  laborers 
is  highly  restricted.  Global  trade 
meetings  hop  around  the  globe, 
while  those  who  protest  these 
meetings  are  corralled  far  away  in 
"protest  zones."  Wars  expand  and 
information  contracts. 

It  IS  upon  this  stage  that  the 
Independent  Media  Center  (IMC) 
movement  enters.  Since  1999  this 
network  has  sprouted  130  heads 
across  50  countries.    In  addition 


to  web  sites,  there  are  IMC  print 
publications  and  a  radio  network. 
To  participate  in  this  global 
conversation  about  local  struggles, 
you  need  no  passport,  no  visa,  no 
permission  to  enter.  Perhaps  that 
is  why  Indymedia  has  spread  so 
widely,  so  rapidly.  When  given 
the  opportunity,  information  and 
solidarity  can  move  as  fast  as 
capital. 

In  Urbana,  Illinois,  the  IMC  had 
its  humble  beginnings  meeting  in 
living  rooms  four  years  ago.  We 
collectivized  our  equipment  and 
started  to  produce  media.  Now  we 
are  regularly  producing  content 
tor  radio,  print,  web,  and  cable 
access.  We  have  a  periormance 
space,  a  library,  an  art  gallery, 
and  a  community  wireless  cloud 
blanketing  much  of  downtown  with 
free  internet  access.  Next  spring 
we  will  flip  the  switch  on  a  new 


low-power  FM  station.  And  we  have 
raised  enough  from  our  community 
to  buy  a  building  and  create  a  larger 
media  and  arts  center  downtown. 

Sure,  we're  producing  a  lot, 
but  are  we  having  an  impact? 
We've  grown  fast,  but  is  this 
sustainable'  As  for  impact  on  a 
local  scale,  it  is  clear  IMC  video 
footage  was  used  in  court  to  clear 
gay  rights  activists  charged  with 
felonies.  Detailed  reports  about 
an  Urbana  resident  abducted  by 
the  FBI  and  facing  trial  with  secret 
evidence  informed  the  movement 
to  free  him  and  helped  lead  to  the 
dropping  of  secret  evidence.  Local 
mainstream  journalists,  editors, 
and  government  officials  read  our 
newswire. 

Globally,  the  network  is  still  at 
the  beginning  of  the  difficult  project 
to  generate  a  global  awareness  and 
global  conversation.  IMCs  in  Africa 


are  lacking.  Language  barriers 
exist.  The  IMC  network  is  working 
out  its  process  Our  strength  is 
in  bringing  the  full  force  of  the 
network  to  bear  on  the  reporting  of  a 
single  event,  such  as  global  justice 
or  anti-war  demonstrations. 

The  core  principles  of  the 
Indymedia  network  help  sustain 
it:  independence  from  state  and 
national  forces;  open  access  to 
information  and  transparency  of 
process:  and  decision-making  by 
those  who  contnbute  labor.  But 
principles  don't  make  a  movement, 
people  do.  The  Indymedia 
movement  will  exist  as  long  as 
people  participate  in  it  If  we  get 
what  we  want,  we  wont  need  the 
qualiher  "independent"  anymore. 
We  will  have  "media,"  heaps  of 
diverse  "media"  pointing  spotlights 
on  many  stories,  many  lives 
-Danielle  Chynoweth 


in 


Countdown  to  Putsch 


It's  common  knowledge  that  punks  don't 
seem  to  age  gracefully.  Either  you  become 
that  creepy  old  dude  hanging  out  at  shows 
with  kids  at  least  15  years  younger  than  you. 
or  you  hang  up  your  mohawk,  sell  your  re- 
cords, and  put  on  a  suit.  Are  there  any  viable 
alternatives  for  punks  who  are  getting  older 
but  are  still  holding  on  to  their  political  ide- 
als? Countdown  to  Putsch  (CTP).  a  veteran 
New  York-based  hardcore  band,  is  in  the  pro- 
cess of  creating  their  own  such  alternative. 

Asked  recently  if  they  had  chosen  to 
leave  the  hardcore  punk  scene  or  felt  that 
had  been  forced  out  due  to  their  age.  CTP  re- 
sponded that  for  them,  it  was  a  combination  of 
the  two.  They  say  the  scene  isn't  welcoming 
to  "older"  punks,  and  lifestyle  choices  to  find 
a  job.  rent  an  apartment,  maybe  get  married 
and  have  kids  are  often  criticized.  Regardless 
of  whether  this  pressure  is  internal  or  exter- 
nal, sooner  or  later,  most  punks  will  feel  it. 
How  they  respond  is  the  interesting  part. 

At  CTP's  inception,  the  musicians  were 
already  a  little  old  for  the  punkhardcore 
scene:  Ben  Kates  was  21,  Rich  Gilman-Opal- 
sky  was  26  and  Chris  Jensen  was  27.  Over 
the  life  of  the  band.  CTP  has  departed  more 
and  more  radically  from  the  punk  hardcore 
scene.  First,  all  three  have  always  sought 
music  and  projects  more  interesting  and  chal- 


Sara  Tretter 

lenging  than  what  they  were  hearing  at  shows 
and  creating  with  others.  Second,  while  the 
politics  of  the  band's  members  have  shifted 
further  left,  their  lifestyles  have  grown  more 
mainstream:  they  took  fulltime  jobs,  married, 
Chris  even  has  a  baby  daughter.  They  were 
growing  more  and  more  out-of-touch  with 
lifestyles  that  define  your  typical  punk  band. 

CTPs  process  of  growth  and  change  is 
evident  in  their  music  and  their  packaging.  In 
terms  of  musical  evolution,  Chris,  Ben  and 
Rich  all  have  vi\  id  memories  of  how  they 
first  got  into  punk,  all  saying  it  was  exciting 
to  hear  music  that  challenged  the  senses  and 
lyrics  that  challenged  the  status  quo.  "What 
drew  me  into  hardcore  and  punk,"  says  Rich, 
"was  that  I  couldn't  stand  the  sound  of  it  at 
first!  I  saw  in  its  sound  and  approach  that 
hardcore  punk  was  a  challenge  to  mainstream 
music  and  values."  CTP  says  it's  disappoint- 
ing today  to  hear  new  "punk"  music  that  is 
no  more  challenging  than  what  they  heard 
all  those  years  ago  —  the  anthemic,  rhetoric- 
driven  songs  that  are  so  easy  to  sing  along 
to  that  the  message  is  lost.  "The  problem  is 
that  there  isn't  a  lot  out  there  for  those  of  us 
who  have  been  in  punk  for  a  long  time,"  says 
Ben. 

If  you  listen  to  CTP's  three  releases,  you 
can  hear  how  this  discontent  affected  their 


songwriting.  The  first  release.  Handbook  for 
Planetaiy  Progress,  is  fairly  straightforward 
hardcore  with  some  improvisation.  The  sec- 
ond release.  Ideas  for  the  Living  and  Hilling 
to  Acl,  combines  their  hardcore  sound  with 
a  significant  amount  of  improvised  music/ 
noise.  And  the  third  release.  Interventions  in 
Hegemony,  is  two  CDs  of  fiilly  improvised 
music,  with  lyrics  vocalized  over  it.  CTP 
really  can't  even  be  classified  as  a  hardcore 
band  anymore,  but  as  a  fi-ee  jazz/improvisa- 
tional  noise  project.  For  CTP,  improv  is  con- 
stantly new.  exciting,  and  challenging.  For 
CTP,  it's  the  perfect,  cacophonous  canvas  on 
which  to  lay  down  political  and  thought-pro- 
voking lyrics.  It  meets  the  standard  of  being 
difficuh  to  listen  to,  forcing  accountability  on 
the  listener  to  actually  work  to  enjoy  the  mu- 
sic and  thoughtfully  consider  the  lyrics.  Rich 
says  the  move  from  making  rock-structured, 
pre-arranged  music  towards  wholly  improvi- 
sational  music  was  more  than  a  practical  or 
personal  choice.  "Improvisation  may  be  the 
largest  evolutionary  marker  I  would  call  "po- 
litical" in  the  band's  recent  history.'"  In  their 
song  "On  Words."  CTP  calls  improvisation  a 
way  to  "discuss  freedom  by  demonstration" 
and  calls  "narration"  the  "dominant  tongue 
that  is  too  much  of  everything  we  seek  to  be 
free  from." 


3 
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in 


CTP's  releases  have  also  taken  a  new 
direction  in  packaging.  Handbook  comes 
with  a  lOO-pagc  handmade  book  of  essays, 
stories,  poems,  and  lyrics,  mostly  written  in  a 
somewhat  self-righteous,  heavy-handed  tone. 
Style  is  noticeably  all  but  absent  —  the  book 
has  a  brown  cardboard  cover  and  is  printed 
in  small,  black  and  white  font,  hleas  comes 
with  a  magazine,  also  containing  lyrics  and 
essays,  but  also  containing  humorous  pieces, 
satire,  and  tons  of  pictures  -  not  to  mention 
full-color  front  and  back  covers  that  are  po- 
litically on-point  and  attractive.  Interventions 
is  simply  a  2-C'D  set,  in  a  regular  old  jewel 
case,  with  a  booklet  containing  lyrics  and  a 
short  manifesto  on  the  back.  Very  saleable. 

CTP  said  that  since  lifestyle  changes 
have  prevented  them  from  touring  or  even 
playing  many  local  shows,  they  wanted  the 
most  recent  release  to  get  into  as  many  hands 
as  possible.  Record  stores  didn't  seem  to 
know  what  to  do  with  the  handbook  or  the 
magazine  —  Inter\'entions  doesn't  have  that 
problem.  However,  CTP  isn't  trying  to  fool 
anyone  into  buying  Interventions  -  it's  got  a 
"manifesto"  on  the  back  cover  that  gives  the 
potential  buyer  a  good  idea  of  the  expected 
accountability  mentioned  above.  But  these 
changes  in  packaging  reflect  an  important  as- 
pect of  CTP's  growing  up  —  the  handbook 
was  almost  completely  Dl  Y  -  they  assembled 
each  one  themselves.  Interventions  was  just 
the  opposite,  a  move  away  from  traditional 
punk  ideals.  But  the  priority  was  to  get  the 
messages  out  to  as  many  listeners  as  possible, 
a  real  political  concern  trumping  the  pseudo- 
politics  of  sccnester-credibility. 

What  exactly  are  these  messages?  CTP 
doesn't  have  one  particular  topic  on  which 
their  lyrics  are  focused.  Rather,  each  release 
offers  a  broad  spectrum  of  ideas  and  sugges- 
tions on  an  extremely  wide  variety  of  topics. 
On  Interventions,  songs  address  everything 
from  criticism  of  Bush  Administration  and 
western  medicine,  to  critiques  of  pacifism, 
distribution  of  wealth,  and  body  positive- 
ness. 

While  their  politics  have  shifted  from 
the  far  left  to  the  even  farther  left,  Ben  says, 
"This  shift  has  been  gradual  and  small,  and 
someone  unfamiliar  with  the  nuances  and 
schisms  of  far-left  politics  probably  wouldn't 
even  notice  that  it  had  occurred."  In  general. 
CTP's  message  seems  to  be:  Stop  accepting 
what  you  see  around  you  as  the  way  things 
have  to  be.  Look  closer,  see  how  fucked  up 
it  is?  Now  start  thinking  about  what  you  can 
do  to  change  it.  Several  songs  focus  on  ac- 
tual lifestyle  changes  you  can  make  to  make 
things  better  (in  songs  "Hours  I  Stole  Friim 
Myself,"  "A  Letter  to  my  Mother  .About 
Vegetarianism,"  "Time's  Up"  and  "One  dol- 
lar. One  vote.  Many  Dollars,  Many  votes.") 

Countdown  to  Putsch  hasn't  perfected 
the  punk  agmg  process.  In  terms  of  the  music, 
relying  mostly  on  improvisation  can  poten- 


tially mean  not  having  to  work  together  as  a 
band  nearly  as  much  as  with  rehearsed  songs. 
Interventions  was  less  of  a  unified  group  proj- 
ect and  more  of  a  three-way  split.  The  lyrics 
contradict  each  other  in  several  places,  leav- 
ing the  listener  somewhat  confused.  If  you 
know  whose  voice  is  whose,  then  by  the  end 
of  the  CD  you'll  have  an  intimate  knowledge 
of  the  personal  politics  of  Ben,  Rich  and 
Chris,  but  little  more  than  a  general  idea  of 
the  politics  of  the  band  as  a  whole. 

Also,  while  CTP  has  not  yet  succumbed 
to  this,  their  evolution  has  the  potential  to 
decrease  musicianship.  To  the  musically  un- 
trained ear,  it  can  be  difficult  to  distinguish 
between  a  skilled  musician  whose  desire  and 
interest  has  taken  hmi  past  mainstream,  eas- 
ily digestible  sounds,  and  a  musician  who  just 
doesn't  play  his  instrument  all  that  well.  Any 
three  people  with  instruments  could  produce 
dissonance  and  non-traditional  sounds,  but  it 
takes  skill  and  work  to  do  this  in  an  interest- 
ing, engaging  way. 


Stop  accepting  what  you  see 
around  you  as  the  way  things 
have  to  be.  Look  closer,  see 
how  fucked  up  it  is?  Now 
start  thinking  about  what 
you  can  do  to  change  it. 


As  far  as  the  packaging  project  has  gone, 
the  intention  to  get  that  message  into  as  many 
hands  as  possible  may  be  the  right  one,  but  it 
isn't  working.  Sales  on  all  three  releases  have 
been  very  poor.  Ideas  was  bolstered  by  the 
band's  2001  tour,  and  for  a  band  on  a  scale 
this  small,  touring  is  probably  the  only  thing 
that's  going  to  do  it.  Which  leads  to  the  last 
and  most  serious  criticism  of  CTP:  their  lack 
of  action. 

All  three  members  of  CTP  are  very  in- 
terested in  social  and  political  activism,  and 
the  ways  in  which  they  do  this  ha\e  matured 
right  along  with  their  music.  However,  as 
a  band  CTP  is  about  as  dormant  as  you  can 
get.  Chris  says  the  releases  are  the  action, 
"While  it  would  be  great  if  we  could  do 
more  to  "promote'  our  product,  the  product 
itself  is  a  coherent  inter\ention.  and  consis- 
tently putting  out  music  for  a  long  period 
of  time  will  have  an  impact."  What  this 
translates  to  is  that  CTP  almost  never  plays 
show  s.  their  last  tour  was  three  years  ago  and 
only  lasted  three  weeks,  and  they  do  very 
little   to  publicize  or  promote  themselves. 

All  CTP  members  are  either  in  school 
or  have  full-time  jobs,  and  all  work  in  some 
capacity  as  teachers    rhc\'\e  have  made  ca- 


reer choices  that  fit  with  the  politics  they  sing 
and  write  about.  They  are  not  making  a  case 
for  a  punk  to  hit  23,  graduate  from  college, 
and  decide  that  it's  okay  to  go  and  work  on 
Wall  Street  or  something,  as  long  as  you're 
still  making  political  and  musically  challeng- 
ing music.  Rather,  CTP  is  showing  that  you 
can  make  adult  choices  that  gel  with  your 
grown-up  punk  philosophy,  and  you  can 
gracefully  move  away  from  punk  music  into 
other  genres  that  move  and  challenge  you  in 
the  way  punk  once  did.  You  have  to  re-assess 
your  philosophy  all  the  time,  and  adjust  your 
actions  accordingly.  You  also  have  to  be  w  ill- 
ing  to  make  some  compromises,  something 
which  zealots  of  all  stripes  are  resistant  to, 
punks  being  no  exception. 

Despite  the  lack  of  record  sales  and  non- 
existent tour  schedule,  CTP  is  still  a  model 
of  a  successfully  aging  punk  band.  They  are 
largely  able  to  hold  on  to  punk  ideals  with- 
out making  hypocrites  of  themseKes  or  com- 
promising the  quality  or  intention  of  their 


sound.  They  are  taking  part  in  what  could  be 
a  revolutionary  mo\ement  in  the  punk  scene 
by  opting  out  of  the  two  options  of  growing 
stale  or  selling  out.  They  ha\e  settled  fimily 
into  adult  lives,  but  rather  than  be  complacent 
about  their  music  (which  given  the  packed 
schedules  of  those  adult  lives,  it  would  be 
very  easy  for  them  to  do),  they  continue  to 
push  themseKes  to  seek  out  and  create  music 
that  is  challenging,  difficult,  and  innovative. 
Rather  than  make  their  band  a  fun  side  proj- 
ect or,  at  the  other  end  of  the  spectrum,  make 
it  as  marketable  as  possible.  CTP  prioritizes 
politics  and  sincerity,  attempting  to  get  their 
releases  sold,  enforce  listener  accountability, 
and  encouraging  listener  reader  feedback  and 
interaction.  Their  politics  have  not  sufTered 
from  their  lifestsle  choices  but  have  deep- 
ened and  become  more  refined  and  more  ma- 
ture, if 

Sarah  Treller  can  he  reached  via  email  at 
saralretter(a  eudoramail.com 


statement  of  Ownefstiip,  Management,  and  Circulation 
1  Publication  Title  Clamor  2  Publication  Number;  1534-9489,  3.  Filing  Date; 
September  27, 2004  4  Issue  Frequency:  Bimonthly  5,  Number  of  Issues  Publisher) 
Annually  6  6  Annual  Subscription  Price;  $18,00. 7,  Complete  Mailing  Address  of 
Known  office  of  Publication  (not  printer);  PO  Box  20128,  Toledo,  OH  43610,  Contact 
Person  lason  Kucsma,  Teleptione  419-243-4688,  8,  Complete  Mailing  Address  of 
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Toledo.  OH  43610,  9  Full  Names  and  Complete  Mailing  Address  of  Publisher, 
Editor,  and  Managing  Editor;  A  Publisher,  Become  The  Media.  Inc,  PO  Box  20128, 
Toledo,  OH  43610  B,  Editors;  Jen  Angel,  Jason  Kucsma.  PO  Box  20128.  Toledo.  OH 
43610  C  Managing  Editors;  Jen  Angel,  Jason  Kucsma.  PO  Box  20128.  Toledo.  OH 
43610  10,  Owner  (If  the  publication  is  owned  by  a  corporation,  give  the  name  and 
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organization,  give  its  name  and  address).  Become  the  Media.  Inc,  PO  Box  20128, 
Toledo.  OH  43610.  Jason  Kucsma,  PO  Box  20128.  Toledo.  OH  43610,  Jen  Angel.  PO 
Box  20128.  Toledo,  OH  43610  11,  Known  Bondholders,  Mortgagees,  and  Other 
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Clamor  14  Issue  Date  for  Circulation  Data  Below;  July/August  2004  15  Extent 
and  Nature  of  Circulation,  Average  No  copies  Each  issue  During  Preceding  12 
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of  Statement  of  Ownership;  Publication  Required  Will  be  printed  in  the  Nov/Dec 
2004  issue  of  this  publication  1 7  Signature  and  title  of  Editor,  Publisher,  Business 
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Radical  Talk 
Radio  Now! 

Farai  Chideya  on  Working  Assets  Radio 

Nate  Clay  on  WLSam.com 

Desi  Cortez  on  KNRCRadio.com 

Thorn  Hartmann  on  cableradionetwork.com 

TheGuyJamesShow.com 

Mike  Newcomb  on  1100KFNX.com 

Ed  Schultz  on  BigEddieRadio.com 

TheTonyShow.com 

PeterWerbe.com 

Lizz  Winstead  on  Air  America  Radio 

And,  many  right-wing  hosts 

are  open  to  dissent. 

www.radio-locator.com 
Reclaim  the  airwaves. 


"He  who  sees  the  truth,  let  him  proclaim  it,  without  asking 
who  is  for  it  or  who  is  against  it." 

-Henry  George 


Transcend 
Politics. 


www.freeliberal.com 

From  the  Center  for  Liberty  and  Community 


ugly  planet 

^0  m  m  RELEVANT  MUSIC  *  MORE 


A  music  magazine 
dedicated  to 
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ISSUE  TWO:  Includes  Fly,  Winston  Smith  (part  2), 
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UGLY  PLANET  •  PO  BOX  205*  NEW  YORK  NY  10012 

iv  1VIV.  uglyplanet,  torn 


Unlikely 


When  Michigan  inmate 
Kebby  Warner  attempt- 
ed to  call  her  daughter  on  her 
fourth  birthday,  she  discov- 
ered that  the  telephone  num- 
ber, which  she  had  been  calling 
once  a  month,  was  restricted. 
The  reason?  Michigan  Depart- 
ment of  Corrections  had  started 
a  new  telephone  program  with 
Sprint.  Those  on  an  inmate's 
telephone  list  had  to  pay  a  min- 
imum of  fifty  dollars  before 
they  could  receive  a  call  from 
their  incarcerated  loved  one. 
If  the  outside  person  was  un- 
able or  unwilling  to  pay.  Spring 
and  the  prison  kept  the  number 
restricted.  The  new  system  re- 
inforced the  sense  of  isolation 
and  alienation  that  prisons  in- 
flict upon  their  inmates. 


Victoria  Law 


o 

Ol 


00 

in 


Communities 


"Roberta,"  an  incarcerated  mother  in  California,  learned  of  War- 
ner's situation  and  offered  to  pay  the  fifty  dollar  deposit  from  her  own 
prison  wages.  (The  pay  scale  at  Roberta's  facility  ranges  from  eight  to 
thirty-two  cents  per  hour.)  "I  know  how  it  is  not  to  hear  your  child's 
voice,"  she  wrote  in  her  offer.  "I've  been  there.  And  thank  God  for  the 
kindness  of  strangers  that  I  was  able  to  talk  to  them  [my  children]  a 
few  times  during  the  roughest  times.  I  would  give  it  [the  deposit]  to 
her  [Warner],  just  let  me  know  if  I  can  and  where  to  send  it,  okay?" 

Within  prison  activist  circles,  women's  concerns  have  often  been 
dismissed  as  personal,  self-centered  and  apolitical.  At  the  same  time, 
women  prisoners'  resistance  is  often  overlooked  —  usually  because  it 
is  not  as  dramatic  as  the  hunger  strikes,  work  stoppages  and  riots  seen 
in  men's  prisons.  In  addition,  women  in  prison  often  complain  about 
the  apathy  among  their  peers,  furthering  the  impression  that  there  is 
little  to  no  unity  in  female  facilities.  However,  women  in  prison  have 
also  demonstrated  their  capacity  to  network,  share  and  help  each  other 
in  times  of  need. 

Prison  activists  and  scholars  have  usually  overlooked  such  ac- 
tions, examining  networking  in  female  facilities  through  the  lens  of 
the  prison  family  instead.  However,  the  prevalence  of  the  prison  fam- 
ily —  in  which  inmates  take  on  traditional  roles  such  as  mother,  father, 
daughters,  aunts  —  declined  after 
the  1971  Attica  Rebellion  as  pris- 
oner groups  and  social  services 
for  inmates  began  to  emerge  in  its 
place.  Women  behind  bars  today 
are  attempting  to  create  commu- 
nity and  share  the  few  resources 
available  to  them  without  replicat- 
ing the  traditional  gender  roles  of 
the  patriarchal  family. 

Some  acts  have  been  as  sim- 
ple as  comforting  an  ill  compan- 
ion. When  Oregon  prisoner  "Boo" 
was  taken  to  a  prison  infirmar> 
after  turning  yellow,  her  fellow 
inmate  Barrilee  Bannister  made  a 
get-well  card  and  had  80  women 
sign  it.  When  Boo  was  released 
fi"om  the  infirmary,  the  women  on 


her  unit,  seeing  how  much  weight  she  had  lost,  shared  their  food  from 
the  canteen  with  her.  While  such  actions  do  not  overtly  challenge  or 
change  Boo's  medical  condition  or  the  inadequate  health  care  system, 
they  do  break  through  the  sense  of  isolation  that  prisons  inflict  upon 
their  inmates. 

Other  strategies  have  had  even  broader  effects.  In  New  York 
State,  inmate  Kathy  Boudin  discarded  the  standard  method  of  having 
women  answer  multiple-choice  questions  about  unrelated  paragraphs 
and  instead  used  the  issue  of  AIDS  to  teach  literacy  to  her  fellow  in- 
mates in  the  Adult  Basic  Education  class.  She  handed  out  vocabu- 
lar>'  worksheets  drawn  from  an  AIDS  program  the  class  had  recently 
watched,  encouraged  students  to  write  about  their  feelings  about  the 
disease  and  had  the  class  write  a  play  about  the  issue.  Her  students 
became  aware  of  themselves  as  a  community  —  first  in  the  classroom 
and  then  in  the  larger  setting  of  the  prison.  They  not  only  began  to 
help  one  another  over  the  stumbling  blocks  towards  literacy,  but  also 
used  their  newfound  knowledge  of  the  disease  to  support  and  comfort 
others. 

Sometimes  the  networks  have  multiplied  available  resources, 
such  as  when  women  have  assisted  their  peers  with  their  legal  work. 
After  losing  custody  of  her  own  daughter,  Kebby  Warner  used  the 

knowledge  she  had  gained  in 
the  prison  law  library  to  assist 
another  inmate  with  the  legal 
paperwork  that  kept  her  from 
losing  her  child.  Likewise,  Mar- 
garet Majos  and  "Elsie,"  in  two 
different  Illinois  prisons,  have 
assisted  women  around  them 
with  their  legal  work.  This  shar- 
ing of  resources  is  often  recipro- 
cated. When  "Elsie"  was  placed 
on  a  suicide  watch  after  engag- 
ing in  a  hunger  strike  against  the 
unsanitary  preparation  of  food, 
another  woman  on  the  unit  lent 
her  a  pen  and  paper  to  write  let- 
ters to  outside  supporters.  Simi- 
larly, when  Warner  filed  a  griev- 
ance against  a  male  officer,  the 


Women  in  Prison  Break 

the  Alienation  of  Incarceration 


IV) 

o 
o 


o 
o 

(M 


O 


woman  she  had  helped  agreed  to  hold  her  paperwork  so  that  prison 
officials  would  not  "lose"  or  destroy  it  during  a  search  or  transfer. 

Some  inmates  ha\e  been  more  systematic  in  their  sharing  and 
networking.  Rhonda  Leland,  a  California  inmate,  stated,  "My  greatest 
concern,  outside  of  the  personal  issues  of  my  children,  are  the  women 
here."  While  other  women  have  complained  that  those  around  them 
will  not  share  or  network  but  would  rather  squabble  and  complain, 
she  has  stated  that  they  "do  their  best  to  network  together  but  there  is 
never  enough  resources  or  help."  Despite  the  limited  resources^  Le- 
land decided  to  reach  out  to  people  outside  the  usual  prisoner  support 
groups.  She  contacted  Krista  Buckner.  an  author  of  Chicken  Soup  for 
the  Soul,  and  W.  Mitchell,  a  motivational  speaker,  to  promote  self-es- 
teem and  positive  self-images  to  the  inmates  at  Valley  State  Prison  for 
Women.  However,  Leiand's  work  on  women's  self-esteem  issues  have 
by  and  large  been  ignored  by  scholars,  academics  and  even  prison 
activists;  the  lack  of  self-esteem,  more  specific  to  women  than  to  men 
both  inside  and  out,  is  not  considered  an  exciting  or  glamorous  topic 
nor  are  there  striking  and  visible  means  to  organize  around  this  issue. 

Not  all  attempts  at  networking  and  sharing  are  ignored.  In  1987, 
the  women  at  Bedford  Hills  Correctional  Facility  in  New  York  started 
the  AIDS  Counseling  and  Education  Project  (ACE).  By  fonning  an 
official  group  —  one  that  was  approved  by  the  prison  superintendent 
—  women  were  able  to  reach  inmates  throughout  the  facility  instead 
of  the  limited  few  they  encountered  throughout  the  day. 

Inmates  involved  in  ACE  not  only  educated  and  counseled  their 
fellow  inmates  about  HlV/AlDS,  but  also  helped  care  for  those  with 
AIDS  in  the  prison  infirmary,  breaking  through  not  only  the  isolation 
of  prison  but  also  the  stigma  of  AIDS. 

Even  with  the  administration's  permission,  ACE  continually  faced 
staff  harassment  and  interference.  Fearing  that  the  group's  one-to-one 
peer  counseling  sessions  would  lead  to  inmate  organizing,  prison  staff 
made  both  counseling  and  life  more  difficult  for  ACE  members.  After 
an  HIV  positive  inmate  overdosed  in  the  prison  infirmary,  prison  staff 
demanded  that  ACE  members  take  urine  tests  or  leave  the  group.  At 
times,  prison  officials  also  restricted  inmates  from  meeting  at  their 
regularly  scheduled  time  or  using  the  meeting  room. 

ACE  members  not  only  managed  to  continue  their  program,  but 
also  received  support  from  outside  AIDS  and  health  organizations: 
volunteers  from  the  local  hospital  did  seminars  and  trainings,  and  the 
AIDS  Institute  awarded  the  group  a  quarter  million  dollar  grant.  ACE 
members  also  wrote  and  published  a  book  detailing  the  group's  history 
and  its  impact  on  women  with  AIDS. 

While  the  seemingly  simple  acts  of  sharing  resources  and  com- 
forting one  another  may  not  seem  as  threatening  to  prison  control 
and  security  as  inmate  organizing  and  agitation,  the  potential  power 
of  women  sharing  and  networking  undermines  the  operations  of  a 
system  that  seeks  to  foster  an  atmosphere  of  alienation  and  isolation. 
The  administration  at  Bedford  Hills  scrapped  Kathy  Boudin's  literacy 
education  model  in  favor  of  multiple  choice  questions.  The  Idaho 
Department  of  Corrections  has  an  outright  ban  on  its  inmates  shar- 
ing resources  or  materials.  One  inmate  at  Idaho's  Pocatello  Women's 
Correctional  Center  circumvents  this  policy  by  donating  her  books  to 
both  a  books-to-prisoners  program  and  the  facility's  library  so  that 
other  incarcerated  women  may  also  read  and  enjoy  them. 

Women  who  reach  out  to  their  fellow  prisoners  risk  repercus- 
sions. After  nine  years  of  assisting  her  fellow  mmates  with  their  legal 
work,  California  inmate  Marcia  Bunney  was  fired  from  her  position  as 
a  law  library  clerk. 

Despite  the  risk  of  retaliation,  women  in  prison  continue  to  help 
each  other.  California  inmate  Charisse  Shumate  taught  her  peers  with 
sickle-cell  anemia  about  both  the  disease  and  the  necessary  treat- 
ments. She  also  advocated  the  right  to  compassionate  release  for  any 
prisoner  with  less  than  a  year  to  live  and  was  the  lead  plaintiff  in  a 
class-action  lawsuit  about  prison  health  care.  Shumate  died  in  prison 
after  the  Board  of  Prison  Terms  denied  her  compassionate  release.  "I 


Despite  the  risk  of 
retaliation,  women  in 
prison  continue  to  help 
each  other. 

took  on  [the  battle]  know  ing  the  risk  could  mean  m>  life  in  more  ways 
than  one,"  Shumate  wrote  before  her  death.  "And  yes.  I  would  do  it  all 
over  again.  If  I  can  save  one  life  from  the  medical  nightmare  of  CCW  F 
Medical  Department  then  it's  well  worth  it." 

Shumate's  death  did  not  deter  others  froin  continuing  her  work. 
Those  she  taught  now  teach  others  how  to  understand  their  lab  work, 
chart  their  results,  keep  a  medical  diary  and  hold  prison  officials  ac- 
countable for  what  they  say  and  do.  "ir 

Further  ReaJing: 

Kathy  Boudin.  "Participatory  Literacy  Education  behind  Bars:  AIDS 
Opens  the  Door."  Har\ard EJucatioiuil  Review  Vol.  63  No.  2.  Sum- 
mer 1 99.'».  207-232. 

"Charisse  Shumate:  A  Warrior,  a  Friend,  an  Inspiration."  The  hire  hisiJc 
Issue  19.  Fall  2001.  www.womenprisoners.org/fire/OOOI82.html 

The  Women  of  the  ACE  Program  of  the  Bedford  Hills  Correctional  Fa- 
cilitN.  Breaking  the  Walls  of  Silence:  AIDS  and  Women  in  a  New 
York  State  Maximum  Security  Prison.  Woodstock.  NY:  0\erlook 
Prc^v  MWS 

I  Klorui  Law  has  heen  doing  prisoner  support  work  for  over  a  decade 
and  has  focused  on  women  in  prison  since  2000.  She  is  one  of  the  co- 
founders  of  New  York  City  Books  Thmugh  Bars,  a  group  that  send^ 
literature  to  inmates  across  the  country:  and  is  a  co-editor  of  the  zine 
Tenacious:  Art  and  Writings  from  Women  in  Prison.  You  can  contact 
her  at  vikkiml(ciyahoo.com 


Reel  Democracy 


Jennie  Rose 


Are  film  festivals  the  last  refuge' 


A  town  hall  with  hundreds  of  benches 
and  rows  of  chairs  provides  seating 
for  people  from  all  walks  of  life  who  sit 
down  and  share  their  views.  This  sounds 
too  good  to  be  true.  The  last  place  I  would 
expect  to  witness  this  scene  is  in  the  red 
carpet  setting  of  a  major  film  festival. 
But  nowadays,  it's  at  the  film  festivals  in 
such  far-reaching  locales  (for  some)  as 
Pusan,  South  Korea  and  Saint  Sebastian. 
Spain  that  the  last  platforms  for  truth  tell- 
ing still  exist. 

"I  have  begun  to  think  of  film  fes- 
tivals as  the  last  refuge  of  democracy  in 
this  increasingly  controlled  and  manacled 
world  of  ours."  says  feminist  film  scholar 
and  author  B.  Ruby  Rich  who  is  an  Ad- 
junct Professor  of  Film  Studies  at  the 
University  of  California  at  Berkeley  and 
the  author  of  Chick  Flicks:  Theories  and 
Memories  of  the  Feminist  Fihn  Move- 
ment. Rich  is  currently  working  on  a  book 
that  re-reads  cinema  in  the  post-9/1 1  era. 
According  to  Rich,  film  festivals  are  "the 
last  place  where  a  true  participatory  dis- 
course can  prevail  and  where  persons  of 
deep-seated  convictions  and  open  minds 
can  come  to  exchange  views,  surrender 
control,  and  be  changed  forever  by  what 
goes  by  on  screen." 

From  humble  beginnings  (both  the 
1948  and  1950  Cannes  festivals  were  can- 
celled due  to  lack  of  funds),  film  festivals 
are  now  covering  the  global  political  arena 
like  a  vast  cult  of  democracy.  "Once  ev- 
erybody wants  a  piece  of  the  action,  then 
more  festivals  are  inevitable,"  enthuses 
Rich,  who  has  worked  in  film  exhibition 
for  the  last  30-odd  years. 

Nowadays  it's  Cannes,  Berlin,  Venice, 
Sundance  Toronto,  Saint  Sebastian,  Ha- 
vana, Buenos  Aires,  Pusan,  Tulluride,  New 
York,  Vancouver,  Karlovy  Vary  located  in 


Czechoslovakia    (former),    Edinburgh, 
and  Locarno,  Switzerland.  Each  festival 
has  become  "important"  in  the  global  dis- 
course of  culture  and  cinema. 

Like  weeds,  film  festivals  have  a 
way  of  popping  up  in  repressive  environ- 
ments. In  fact,  the  first  ever  festival  took 
place  in  Venice,  Italy  in  1932  against  the 
backdrop  of  Mussolini's  fascism.  Gi- 
useppe Volpi  di  Misurata,  a  complex  figure 
who  did  not  always  bow  to  Mussolini,  ob- 
tained an  independent  manifesto  from  the 
government  that  freed  the  festival  from  all 
government  pressure.  The  festival's  regu- 
lations made  clear  the  intent  to  "exclude 
all  interference  of  a  political  nature."  As 
a  result,  amidst  the  thuggish  atmosphere 
of  the  Mussolini  regime,  fair  awards  were 
guaranteed  (audiences  chose  the  winners) 
and  thanks  to  a  "special  concession  by  the 
Head  of  Government,"  no  one  censored 
the  festival  entries. 

Since  then,  festivals  have  often  been 
sites  where  people  bear  witness  to  events 
they  were  never  supposed  to  know  about, 
where  programmers  exercise  free  speech 
in  the  face  of  repressive  regimes.  Take  the 
example  of  the  1996  New  York  Film  Fes- 
tival. The  festival  was  slated  to  premiere 
the  landmark  documentary  The  Gate  of 
Heavenly  Peace,  about  the  events  leading 
up  to  the  massacre  at  Tiananmen  Square. 
The  Chinese  government  did  not  want  to 
share  this  subject  with  the  world.  In  the 
end,  though,  The  New  York  Film  Festival 
declined  a  formal  request  from  the  Chi- 
nese government  to  censor  the  film,  and 
the  documentary  premiered  before  a  rapt 
audience. 

B.  Ruby  Rich  was  a  part  of  the  audi- 
ence at  that  premiere  and  counts  it  as  one 
her  most  memorable  festival  experiences. 
Rich  shares  the  belief  with  others  who  sup- 
port film  festivals  that  if  you  reach  even 
one  person,  the  struggle  to  find  distribution 
is  worth  while.  To  this  end,  her  moment  of 
glory  came  two  decades  earlier  when  Rich 
organized  her  personal  tribute  to  the  Stars 
and  Stripes  during  the  bicentennial. 

"I  got  the  Chicago  Tribune  (a  tradi- 
tionally conservative  paper)  to  under- 
write a  festival  of  revolutionary  cinema 
to  commemorate  the  bicentennial,"  says 
Rich,  who  was  associate  director  of  the 


Film  Center  of  the  Art  Institute  of  Chica- 
go at  the  time.  "Everyone  else  was  doing 
John  Ford  retrospectives  and  "The  His- 
tory of  the  Western,"  so  I  did  a  two-week 
festival  of  revolutionary  film.  I  showed  all 
the  Latin  American  films.  I  did  American 
documentaries  on  university  sit-ins.  It  was 
a  great  shot  in  the  arm  for  people  at  that 
time  in  Chicago." 

Of  course,  not  all  festivals  are  cre- 
ated equal.  And  over  the  years,  the  glitz 
of  Cannes  can  eclipse  the  fact  that  many 
festivals  spring  up  to  fill  political  needs.  It 
may  be  too  easy  to  forget  that  all  you  need 
to  have  a  film  festival  are  a  projector  and 
an  audience.  For  instance,  The  Conscien- 
tious Projector:  Films  for  the  People  and 
the  Planet,  a  small  festival  on  Bainbridge 
Island,  Washington,  showcases  film  proj- 
ects that  underscore  the  connections  be- 
tween foreign  oil,  national  security,  global 
climate  change,  and  energy  conservation. 
It  is  now  in  its  third  year  and  growing. 

Yes,  there's  both  less  and  more  than 
the  "city  on  a  hill"  democratic  Utopia  at 
work  at  film  festivals.  But,  there's  enough 
true  democracy  on  the  scene  to  take  note. 
At  film  festivals,  audiences  may  vote  for 
their  favorites,  viewers  may  question  film- 
makers, stars  may  mingle  with  plebeians 
and  films  from  rich  countries  and  poor 
countries  may  get  to  share  the  stage.  "We 
may  give  up  on  participatory  government 
some  days,"  says  Rich,  "but  there's  always 
hope  in  the  cinema  to  get  us  by."  During 
these  days  when  heckling  the  president  can 
get  you  fired,  it  turns  out  that  we  may  have 
to  look  to  film  festivals  as  some  of  the  last 
venues  of  free  speech.  tV 

A  San  Francisco  survivor  of  the  dotcom  era, 
Jennie  Rose  has  also  survived  as  a  music 
and  film  writer,  an  animator,  and  a  corpo- 
rate lackey.  She  usually  writes  about  science 
and  nature.  Reach  heratjenneric@pacbell. 


a\ 


Crit  cal  mAbb! 

^^  ■  The  Ride  for  Humanitarian  Exhibitionism 


words  and  photos  Teri  Dana! 


L 


o 
o 


In  the  middle  of  an  urban  summer  cook- 
out,  the  Charles  Manson  doppelganger 
lifted  up  my  skirt  with  a  branch  from  the 
backyard  and  asked  if  he  could  take  my  pic- 
ture. Iwas  sixteen  and  thought  the  situation 
novel  as  hell.  Photos  were  snapped,  and  fif- 
teen minutes  later  this  love-repressed  vestal 
virgin  found  herself  agreeing  to  inodel  nude 
for  a  figure  drawing  class  at  his  art  studio.  I 
justified  the  activity  by  its  monetary  value.  A 
few  weeks  later,  it  was  my  first  time  naked  in 
public,  in  front  of  a  group  of  students.  1  quiv- 
ered and  fumbled  on  the  art  room  podium  as 
1  changed  poses.  Years  of  negative  body  im- 
age reinforcement,  layers  of  classic  morose 
Christian  values,  and  everyday  experiences 
that  brainwashed  me  into  equating  nudity 
with  sexuality  fell  away  in  a  mere  three 
hours.  The  advent  of  artists  worshipping  my 
form  for  the  express  purpose  of  aesthetics 
was  all  it  took  to  change  my  mind.  So  my  life 
as  an  exhibitionist  began,  which  soon  turned 
into  a  tool  for  social  change. 

I  experienced  similar  spiritual  ecstasy 
on  June  12,  2004  during  the  three  hours  of 
the  World  Naked  Bike  Ride.  Globally,  over 
1500  naked  riders  from  twenty-nine  cities 
took  to  the  streets.  In  Chicago,  more  than 
250  naked  cyclists  collectively  sought  to  face 
automobile  traffic  with  our  naked  bodies. 
We  sought  the  most  efficient  way  to  defend 
our  dignity  and  expose  the  unique  dangers 
faced  by  cyclists  and  pedestrians  as  well  as 
the  negative  consequences  we  all  face  due  to 
oil  dependency  and  other  forms  of  non-re- 
newable energy.  Additionally,  we  sought  to 
renew  publicly  the  sense  of  joy  and  wonder- 


ment we  hold  in  our  most  common  experi- 
ence: our  body  unclothed,  in  its  simplest 
form. 

Privatization  of  land  and  space  seem  to 
afford  humans  valuable  experiences,  such  as 
sheltering,  nurturing  environments  that  fos- 
ter community.  However,  when  done  without 
careful  design  consideration,  these  shelters 
and  transportation  structures  become  the 
prisons  that  keep  us  from  having  a  com- 
munity at  all.  Some  people  think  that  driv- 
ing hybrid  cars  and  vehicles  that  don't  use 
fossil  fuels  alone  will  create  social  change. 
Unfortunately,  when  people  go  out  the  doors 
of  their  homes,  immediately  into  an  automo- 
bile, and  arrive  at  their  destination  with  no 
lime  outside,  contact  with  others  becomes 
extremely  limited.  When  we  don't  have  ac- 
cess to  the  people  around  us,  we  stop  view- 
ing one  another  as  more  similar  than  differ- 
ent. Instead,  we  grow  to  fear  one  another 
as  we  fear  the  unknown.  Cycling  together, 
clothed  or  unclothed,  helps  us  stay  in  touch 
with  one  another.  Cycling,  and  especially 
nude  cycling,  brings  us  to  a  place  where  we 
are  willing  to  like  one  another  because  we 
are  humble  and  vulnerable  to  each  other.  Cy- 
cling makes  everyone  around  you  aware  that 
you  are  willing  to  do  what  seems  more  dif- 
ficult in  order  to  make  progress.  The  rewards 
of  physical  health  and  a  heightened  social 
life  make  the  choice  that  much  easier. 

During  our  ride,  passers-by  and  auto- 
clad  humans"  responses  ranged  from  drunk- 
en astonishment  to  deep-seated  glee,  from 
horrific  amazement  to  wild  laughter.  The 
police  did  not  arrest  anyone.  They  didn't 


even  attempt  to  arrest  anyone  as  our  sea  of 
naked  cyclists,  following  our  map-maker 
Travis  CuIIey.  made  its  way  through  some  of 
the  most  wealthy,  repressed  and  prestigious 
neighborhoods  in  Chicago,  including  the 
Gold  Coast,  the  Magnificent  Mile,  the  Gal- 
lery district,  Bucktown,  and  Lincoln  park. 
There  were  many  highlights,  such  as  the  girl 
who  carried  a  dog  on  her  back,  the  pantsless 
priest,  all  the  participants  who  employed 
many  glittery  accessories  and  body  paints, 
and  of  course  the  nude  tuba  player  carried  by 
pedicab.  Considering  the  Buddhist  teaching, 
"we  are  what  we  think,"  we  focused  on  pure 
enjoyment,  functionality,  and  natural  status 
for  three  hours.  This  truly  led  to  elation,  un- 
polluted breathing,  and  unspoiled  love  glow, 
which  we  will  continue  in  many  other  naked 
cycling  and  socially  conscious  events. 

The  World  Naked  Bike  Ride  is  a  free, 
fun,  non-sexual  ride,  organized  by  many  dif- 
ferent groups.  It  happens  annually  in  29  cities 
worldwide,  and  several  times  a  year  in  Spain, 
Italy.  Vancouver  and  Chicago.  You  can  visit 
www.worldnakedbikeride.org  to  participate 
and  to  nominate  your  city  for  participation  if 
it  is  not  listed.  iV 

For  more  information,  email 
teriftiworldnakedbikeride.org. 

Teri  Danai  is  a  polymath  living  in  Chicago 
IL  who  likes  to  ride  her  tallhike.  paint  mu- 
rals, read.  sew.  garbage  pick,  and  bring 
peace  to  her  neighbors.  She  has  written  four 
hooks,  and  will  read  your  aura  if  you  ever 
meet  her. 


Orgasm:  The  Faces  of  Ecstasy 

Blank  Tapes  and  Libido  Films 
www.libidomag.com 

Orgasm:  to  grow  ripe,  be  lustful,  akin  to  strength:  intense  or  uncontrol- 
lable emotional  excitement;  the  climax  of  arousal  typically  occurring  to- 
ward the  end  of  coitus.  Orgasm:  to  lose  control:  embarrassment,  private, 
secret;  to  finish,  reach  a  goal;  self  consciousness,  shame,  fear,  regret. 
Orgasm:  to  claim  control;  respect,  dialogue,  political  protest,  public, 
laughter,  delight. 

Orgasm:  The  Faces  of  Ecstasy,  the  latest  documentary  from  Libido 
Films,  approaches  orgasm  aware  of  the  complex  and  contradictory  defi- 
nitions and  implications  surrounding  sexual  arousal.  Shot  over  four  and 
a  half  days,  with  22  volunteers  aged  22  to  68  from  various  backgrounds, 
Orgasm  is  a  non-linear  look  at  people  before,  during,  and  after  they  get 
off  alone  or  with  a  partner.  The  twist?  Hafferkamp  and  Beck  shot  the 
volunteers' from  the  shoulders  up  and  asked  them  to  look  back  at  the 
camera  while  they  came. 

This  looking  back  dares  viewers  to  turn  the  mirror  on  themselves  and 
ask  how  they  look  at  and  are  looked  at  dunng  sex.  And,  when  one  man 
smiles,  waves,  and  says,  "Hi  Mom,"  this  dialogue  assumes  entirely  differ- 
ent dimensions.  These  are  human  beings  who  can  make  us  laugh  at  all 
this  senous  sex  talk. 

Reminiscent  of  Yoko  Ono's  1966  No.  4  (Bottoms).  Orgasm  also  con- 
fronts a  common  representation  of  sexuality.  Bottoms  is  shot  after  shot 


of  close-ups  of  the  bottoms  of  naked  people 
walking  on  a  treadmill.  While  they  walk,  their 
interviews  play  on  the  soundtrack,  creating 
amusing  and  discordant  effects.  Ono's  film 
refuses  conceptions  of  acceptability  or  at- 
traction as  it  turns  butt  cheeks  into  abstrac- 
tions. 

The  central  sequence  of  Orgasm  is  a 
close-up  study  of  the  aroused  face  which 
creates  new  intimacy  and  new  explicit- 
ness.   The  interviews  before  and  after 
this  sequence  ask  the  volunteers  why  they 
would  participate,  what  this  public  display  might  mean,  and 
how  they  look  and  sound  when  they  fake  an  orgasm.  Together,  these 
three  sections  cohere  into  a  funny  and  expressive  hour. 

The  film's  focus  on  climax  as  the  goal  of  sexual  arousal  does  limit  its 
conception  of  sexuality.  This  may  not  be  its  intention,  and  the  interviews 
work  against  such  a  simplifying  of  the  focus,  but  this  limit  seems  almost 
inherent  in  the  project  itself. 

Still,  Orgasm  is  definitely  an  enjoyable  and  valuable  film.  It  is  an  ex- 
tended redo  of  a  project  shot  by  Joani  Blank,  the  founder  of  Good  Vibra- 
tions, who  made  a  10-minute  short  about  people  coming  at  a  sex  party. 
Here,  Libido  has  taken  on  a  sexy  and  smart  project  in  a  sexy,  smart,  and 
delightful  way,  as  usual. 
-Brian  Bergen-Aurand 


on 


o 
o 

U 


o 
o 


THINK  PINK! 


Queer  Radio  Rocks  Chicago 


by  Justin  Carter 


When  Clamor  first  approached  me  to  profile  Think  Pink,  a 
queer  radio  show  on  WLUW  88.7  FM  in  Chicago,  I  wasn't 
all  that  intrigued  or  interested.  I  had  never  listened  to  the  show; 
1  had  never  even  heard  of  it;  and  when  I  hear  the  words  "queer 
radio  show"  or  "queer  music."  my  first  reaction  is  to  cringe  and 
plug  my  ears. 

Let  me  explain.  I  grew  up  in  Iowa  City,  Iowa,  and  when 
I  actually  listened  to  the  radio.  1  listened  to  University  of  Iowa 
radio  because  they  played  the  good  music.  On  Friday  afternoons 
they  ran  the  queer  radio  show.  The  playlist  usually  consisted  of 
the  stereotypical  "queer  music."  They  featured  Pet  Shop  Boys. 
Donna  Summer.  Erasure,  anything  from  the  '80s,  Dead  or  Alive. 
Madonna,  and  Cher  Are  you  following  me?  I,  like  many  other 
queer  people,  do  not  listen  to  only  that  kind  of  music.  Sure, 
maybe  I  am  guilty  of  listening  to  it  in  the  "SOs  but  by  the  late 
'90s,  I  had  evolved. 

So,  against  my  better  judgement.  I  tuned  in  to  Think 
Pink  to  give  the  show  a  listen.  Only,  I  couldn't  tune  in  because 
of  the  limited  area  that  can  receive  the  broadcast  from  the  Loyola 
University  campus  on  the  North  East  side  of  Chicago.  Luckily 
we  live  in  the  21st  century,  and  I  was  able  to  obtain  a  copy  of  the 
show  from  the  co-hosts  Ali  &  Erik.  1  received  a  CD  a  few  weeks 
later  and  put  it  aside  because  I  was  still  very  skeptical  and  wanted 
to  avoid  an  hour  and  half  cringing  and  holding  my  hands  over  my 
ears.  Finally,  as  the  deadline  for  this  piece  approached,  I  listened 
to  the  CD.  I  listened  again.  Then,  I  listened  one  more  time. 

I  couldn't  believe  what  I  was  hearing.  It's  different;  it's 
something  on  the  radio  that  I  actually  have  on  my  iPod.  It's 
Magnetic  Fields,  it's  Belle  &  Sebastian,  it's  the  Pixies.  And,  oh 
wait,  it's  also  Pet  Shop  Boys.  Indigo  Girls,  and  Morrissey.  But 
wait,  what's  thai?  Could  it  be  punk  rock?  Ahhhhhh,  indeed  it  is. 
Think  Pink  is  also  the  band  Pansy  Division. 

See,  there  is  this  preconceived  notion,  correct  me  if  I  am 
wrong,  that  queers  all  listen  to  the  same  typical  "gay"  music. 
Showtunes.  Barbara  Streisand,  Celine,  Whitney,  Cher,  Madonna, 


anything  with  a  house  techno  dance  beat.  Sure,  maybe  some  of 
us  do  listen  to  that,  and  when  walking  through  Boy's  Town,  you 
can  hear  plenty  of  it.  But.  some  of  us  still  want  our  rock  and  roll, 
our  pop  and  hip-hop.  and,  even,  our  punk. 

Ali  &  Erik,  Think  Pink's  hosts,  do  a  great  job  mixing 
up  the  show  and  not  just  sticking  to  one  genre.  Sure,  a  vast 
majority  of  the  musicians  on  the  play  list  may  be  gay  musicians, 
but  you  have  to  remember  it  is  a  show  geared  toward  the  queer 
community.  Still,  sometimes  they  break  from  the  expected,  and  it 
is  nice  to  know  that  they  are  playing  new  music  for  people  who 
have  been  prisoners  of  stereotyping. 

If  a  queer  teen  in  small  town  Nebraska  is  only  exposed  to 
typical  queer  music  on  radio  and  television  or  in  film,  the  \  icious 
cycle  will  continue.  They  will  think.  "I  better  stop  listening  to 
Metallica  and  better  start  listening  to  Madonna,  otherwise  I'll 
be  in  this  closet  forever"  Without  altemati\es,  queer  youth 
will  continue  being  pulled  into  the  typical  factor:  One  day  they 
are  alternative  rock  teens  listening  to  Nir\ana  or  Smashing 
Pumpkins,  and  then  they  see  a  gay  character  on  TV  or  in  a  movie. 
The  next  day  they  adopt  a  higher  voice,  maybe  a  lisp.  They  trade 
in  their  music  collection  at  the  local  used  CD  shop  for  Madonna 
and  Cher  collections.  1  know,  I  did  it.  We  become  other  people's 
stereotypes.  Eventually,  I  learned  that  I  am  my  own  person  and 
what  others  projected  on  to  me  was  not  my  scene.  But  other 
people  want  to  be  accepted  by  their  community,  and  isolated 
queers  will  sometimes  not  see  that  it  is  okay  to  be  different. 

Shows  like  Think  Pink  will  help  and,  we  can  hope, 
broaden  their  music  and  cultural  palettes,  and  also  let  straight 
people  know  that  we  don't  always  fit  that  "friend-of-Dorothy- 
Barbara-Striesand-ice-skating-Madonna-lo\ing-dancing-queen  " 
prototype.  Think  Pink  is  music  made  by  and  for  the  GLBT 
community  in  Chicago  and  be\  ond. 

To  listen  online  go  to  w  www  luw.org.  Think  Pink  airs  Tuesda\  s. 
6:30-8:00p.m.  (CST). 


to 


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[Best  American  Erotica  2004] 

Susie  Bright,  ed 
Touchstone  Books 
wwwtouchstonebooks.com 

We  will  never  discover  universal  truths  about 
the  realm  of  sex  and  desire.  No  one  act  will  turn 
everyone  on,  which  means  no  one  erotic  story 
will  excite  everyone.  However,  we  do  have  Susie 
Bright,  the  unofficial  observer  and  recorder  of  sex 
and  sexual  desire  in  America,  and  she  comes 
close  to  finding  a  little  something  for  everybody  in 
Best  American  Erotica  2004.  Each  year  she  puts 
together  a  sampler  of  the  best  American  erotica 
published  around  the  country  and  tnes  to  find  at 
least  one  sexy  truth  (in  fantasy  form)  for  everyone 
who  picks  up  the  book. 

The  submission  policy  for  her  collection 
requires  previous  publication,  but  that  is  a  pretty 
broad  requirement.  Bright  includes  personal  web 
sites  and  zines  in  addition  to  books  by  major 
publishers  The  result  is  a  cross-section  of  talent 


and  topics  in  sex,  a  big  celebrity  name  (an  excerpt 
from  actor  Alan  Cumming's  novel),  a  pseudonym, 
and  every  kind  of  writer  in-between.  The  vanation 
in  style  and  experience  is  exciting  and  refreshing, 
but  occasionally  the  juxtaposition  works  against  the 
wnter  and  the  story;  not  every  piece  is  as  refined 
as  the  others,  nor  does  each  stand  as  strongly  on 
its  own.  But  this  is  often  the  burden  earned  by  a 
collection. 

As  an  editor,  Bright's  talents  lie  not  only 
in  selecting  the  best  of  each  erotica  genre,  but 
also  in  her  arrangement  of  the  stories.  While 
each  story  could  be  devoured  singulariy  with 
each  sitting,  reading  straight  through  creates  a 
delightful  ebb  and  flow  for  the  reader,  switching 
activities  and  partners,  varying  pace  and  rhythm. 

I  was  immediately  drawn  to  "A  Red 
Dress  Tale."  a  story  about  a  woman's  first-time 
negotiation  and  expenence  of  a  submissive 
exploitation  fantasy.  Though  I  didn't  initially 
enjoy  another  story  of  oversexed  backstabbing 
astronauts  filming  sexual  exploits  in  space.  I 
couldn't  get  the  idea  out  of  my  head  afterwards 
For  some,  the  lesbian  softball  players  doing 
it  under  catcher's  gear  might  not  electnfy  the 


same  as  the  man  trying  on  women's  lingerie  in 
a  public  dressing  room  while  being  humiliated 
by  his  wife..  However,  I  always  felt  compelled  to 
continue  reading  and  see  where  the  story  would 
end  If  I  ended  up  closing  the  book  and  rewnting 
the  fantasy  in  my  head  to  better  suit  my  personal 
needs,  the  erotica  still  did  its  job  of  connecting 
the  two  most  important  sex  organs  in  a  reader: 
the  brain  and  the.  well,  you  know. 
■Raymond  Johnson 

[Girls  Rock!: 

Fifty  Years  of  Women  Making  Music] 

by  Mina  Carson.  Tisa  Lewis,  and  Susan  M.  Shaw 
University  Press  of  Kentucky 
wfww.kentuckypress.com 

I'm  driving  across  New  Mexico  en  route  to  Utah, 
repacking  a  tent,  cello,  guitar,  and  review  copy 
of  Girls  Rock!  into  my  truck  every  moming  The 
book  is  billed  as  bnnging  together  "history,  feminist 
analysis,  and  developmental  theory  to  look  at  how 
and  why  women  have  become  rock  musicians." 
The  authors  deliver  on  their  promise,  alternating 
between  quotes  and  summanes  of  all  the  Judith 


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Butlers,  Andrea  Dworkins,  and  Adrienne  Riches 
of  the  West  and  the  curt  peppered  statements  of 
female  musicians  local,  famous,  and  infamous. 

The  book  starts  slow,  the  first  chapter 
reading  like  a  20th  century  Genesis  from  Lillith's 
perspective.  This  is  our  feminist  rocker  genealogy 
illustrated  in  line  after  line  of  "first  guitar"  creation 
stories.  Paz  Lenchanitin,  Bitch  (of  Bitch  and 
Animal),  Emily  Saliers  (of  the  Indigo  Girls),  Rana 
Ross,  Kate  Schellenbach  (of  Luscious  Jackson), 
and  the  Wilson  sisters  (of  Heart)  are  some  of  the 
familiar  names  to  make  an  appearance. 

The  rest  of  the  book  is  more  interesting,  if 
not  always  more  accessible.  The  authors  do  a 
wonderful  job  highlighting  oppression  —  primarily 
race,  gender,  and  orientation  —  and  its  effect  not 
only  on  female  musicians,  but  on  the  music,  the 
creative  process,  the  business,  and  the  largely 
untold  herstory  of  rock.  I  was  amazed  at  how  many 
of  these  women  I  had  never  heard  of. 

Lack  of  familianty  is  what  makes  this  book 
difficult  to  absorb.  Without  a  prior  at  least  cursory, 
knowledge  of  feminism  and  the  herstory  of  rock, 
it  would  seem  difficult  to  care  about  the  plights  of 
girirocker  x  or  y  at  the  label,  in  the  dressing  room,  or 
in  the  studio.  But  most  of  the  stories  are  touching, 
personal,  gritty,  real,  and  political.  In  fact,  many  of 
the  most  influential  female  musicians  were  also 
known  for  their  activism  or  personal  strength.  Some 
of  the  most  prominent  include  Malvina  Reynolds, 
Aunt  Mollie  Jackson,  Peggy  Seeger,  Kathleen 
Hanna,  Joan  Baez,  Ani  DiFranco,  Sweet  Honey  in 
the  Rock,  and  Tracy  Chapman.  And,  brief  memorials 
lend  weight  to  the  accounts:  "Balladeer  Ella  May 
Wiggins  sang  her  protest  songs  in  the  coalmines  of 
Kentucky  and  was  shot  to  death  for  her  activism." 
As  well,  the  stories'  attention  to  rock  n'  roll's  black 
roots  was  also  crucial  in  making  this  a  complete  and 


accountable  work.  From  Missy  Elliot  and  Queen 
Latifah  to  all  the  women  of  Motown,  black  women 
tell  their  distinct  but  related  history  of  rock. 

The  structure  of  the  book  is  cyclical,  striding 
through  eight  broad  topics  and  examining  rock 
herstory,  psychology  and  process  through  each. 
The  book  discusses  the  giri  and  her  instrument, 
the  girl  and  her  race,  the  singer  and  the  song,  the 
band,  the  women's  music  movement,  the  giri  and 
her  image,  the  business,  and  survival.  Though 
repetitive,  I  got  used  to  the  authors'  style:  smart 
and  truly  feminist  analytical  poetry. 

The  most  invigorating  bits  of  the  book  were 
about  people,  places,  and  events  I  know,,  like 
Ladyfest  Midwest  the  Chicago  scene.  In  fact,  I 
laughed  aloud  when  I  came  across  a  mention 
of  my  own  band.  It  is  exciting  to  see  my  own 
experiences  part  of  such  a  work  but  also  a  bit  sad 
that  we  can  even  begin  to  fit  our  history  into  one 
short  book.  So  much  gets  erased. 

In  the  end,  as  a  female  rocker,  I  learned 
a  lot  from  Giris  Rock!  It  gave  me  a  concrete 
encyclopedia  of  names  and  faces  of  women  in 
rock,  places  to  store  away  in  my  mental  roll-o-deck. 
It  gave  me  a  real  sense  of  a  legacy  that  we  have 
grandmas  who've  been  building  these  bridges  for 
us.  It's  a  powerful  thing  to  be  written  into  being,  to 
illuminate  the  hidden  stories  with  joy 
-Natalie  Nguyen 

[Globalize  Liberation:  How  to  Uproot 
the  System  and  Build  a  Better  World] 

Edited  by  David  Solnit 
City  Lights,  2004 
www.citylights.com 

Chock  a  block  with  over  thirty  essays.  Globalize 
Liberation  came  to  me  on  the  same  day  we 


learned  that  'W'  was  coming  to  our  little  town  of 
15,000.  I'd  been  hearing  about  this  book  from 
a  friend  in  London.  Read  it,  he  said.  With  three 
days  to  organize,  1,500  demonstrators  turned 
up  to  say  no  to  Bush  (the  largest  political  protest 
in  our  town's  history)  and  by  the  end  of  his  visit, 
three  of  us  were  in  jail.  I  was  in  the  middle  of 
George  Lakey's  chapter,  "Strategizing  for  a  Living 
Revolution"  about  how  Otpor,  a  youth  movement 
in  Serbia,  organized  to  oust  Slobodan  Milosovic, 
when  were  informed  by  the  authorities  that  they'd 
be  gathering  evidence  before  deciding  how  to 
charge  local  activists. 

I  mention  this  because  too  often  really  good 
books  seem  far  away  from  our  everyday  struggles; 
disconnected  from  the  solutions  we  muster  and 
the  larger  movements  into  which  we  fit.  We  feel 
clumsy  and  flummoxed  while  the  writer's  we  most 
admire  make  it  all  seem  so  much  sexier,  lyrical, 
and  in  any  case,  never  boring.  Solnifs  collection 
is  an  antidote.  It  took  me  away  and  brought  me 
back-inspired,  more  defiant,  ready. 

An  activist  himself,  Solnit's  twenty  years 
of  experience  in  direct  action  manifestations. 
Art  and  Revolution,  as  well  as  his  carpenter's 
hands  have  resulted  in  a  poetic,  smart,  and 
immediately  useful  volume  of  essays  on  topics 
ranging  from  Post-Issue  Activism,  Prefigurative 
Politics,  Street  Theater,  Forward  Movement, 
and  Anti-racist  organizing.  The  pieces  in  this 
collection  are  grounded  in  real  stories  and  real 
lessons,  bringing  the  rebellions  in  Argentina, 
poll-tax  resistors  in  Scotland,  and  farm  workers 
in  Immokalee  to  readers  with  passion  and  the 
intention  of  advancing  concrete,  practical,  and 
beautiful  solutions.  Standout  offerings  include 
Patrick  Reinsborough  ("Decolonizing  the 
Revolutionary  Imagination"),  John  Jordan  ("The 


Zine  Spotlight 

Verbicide  #11 

Jackson  Ellis,  Editor-in-Chief 
Scissor  Press 
wvw.scissorpress .  com 


Twenty-Four  Hours  #4 

Josh  Medsker,  publisher/editor 
wvw.geocities.com/twentyfourhourszine 


Ooh,  I  love  magazines,  so  much  that  tossing  another  one  on  the  leaning 
tower  of  must-reads  risks  serious  detriment  to  my  social  life.  But  for 
Verbicide  the  risk  must  be  taken.  Itcaptured  my  imagination  so  fully  that  I 
can't  wait  for  the  next  issue. 

On  the  cover  Verbicide  claims  broadly  to  cover  "independent 
literature,  music  and  art."  What  ties  together  the  short  fiction,  band 
interviews,  photography,  poetry,  and  non-fiction  is  the  challenging  nature 
of  all  the  art —  rebellious  and  hard  to  classify,  sparking  my  interest  rather 
that  making  me  feel  alienated  from  a  particular  genre.  Even  the  coverage 
of  bands  I'd  never  heard  of  made  me  want  to  check  out  some  samples  on 
the  internet.  Faves  were  "KALM  Correspondence"  by  B.  Brandon  Barker, 
a  short  story  in  the  format  of  letters  written  and  received,  about  one 
man's  battle  against  the  tyranny  of  lite  FM,  and  "Bill  Shields:  The  Seal 
Who  Never  Was,"  by  Seth  Gotro,  a  non-fiction  piece  exposing  one  of  the 
author's  literary  heroes  as  a  fraud,  and  exploring  the  deep  relationship 
between  artist  and  audience. 


Ok-  I'll  admit  that  I  volunteered  to  review  Twenty-Four  Hours  simply 
because  I  liked  the  name.  What  I  found  was  a  thoughtful  literary  zine,  mostly 
short  fiction  with  a  small  poetry  section  and  two  excellent  interviews. 

The  conceptual  bridge  between  fiction  pieces  seemed  to  be  the  highly 
personal  nature  of  the  stories.  Only  one  of  the  five  stories  was  not  written 
in  the  first  person.  Although  the  plots  differed  greatly,  each  story  explored 
one  character's  relationship  to  a  situation,  surreal  or  mundane.  I  found 
the  quality  of  the  writing  to  be  somewhat  inconsistent,  but  one  standout 
piece  was  "Epilogue  (Part  2)"  by  Jeff  Burandt,  a  futuristic  story  written  in  a 
slang  reminiscent  of  "A  Clockwork  Orange"  or  Frank  Miller's  "Dark  Knight 
Returns." 

Josh  Medsker,  the  editor/publisher,  conducted  both  interviews  in 
the  zine,  one  with  Levi  Asher  of  LitKicks.com,  and  one  with  fellow  'zine 
publisher  Susan  Boren,  creator  of  the  'zine  ClipTari.  I  fully  enjoyed  both, 
especially  Boron's.  As  a  zine  happy  urbanite  recently  relocated  to  a  more 
mainstream  cultural  zone,  I  appreciate  any  introductions  to  independent 
writers  and  publishers. 

Overall  I  thought  Twenty-Four  Hours  viasvieW  put  together,  and  I  plan 
to  check  out  the  next  edition,  but  I  liked  everything  about  Verbicide,  so 
enough  said  —  head  out  to  an  alternative  magazine  rack  or  get  on  the 
internet  and  keep  these  magazines  in  business! 
-Sfe//a  Meredith 


o 
o 


o 
o 


CO 


Sound  and  the  Fury:  The  Invisible  Icons  of  Anti- 
Capitalism"),  and  Manuel  Callahan  ("Zapatismo 
Beyond  Chiapas"). 

Globalize  Liberation  is  a  diagnosis, 
prescription,  and  the  evidence  of  wellness  in  many 
small  and  large  instances  around  the  world.  If  you 
want  to  make  change,  this  will  set  you  on  your 
way  with  strategy  (because  it  "counters  despair 
and  fosters  vision"),  tactics,  and  abundant  creative 
inspiration  like  "fire  in  dry  grass."  . 
-Holly  Wren  Spaulding 

[The  Spirit  of  Terrorism] 

Jean  Baudrillard 
Verso,  2003 
www.versobooks.com 

"Allergy  to  any  definitive  order,  to  any  definitive 
power,  is  —  happily  —  universal,"  Jean  Baudrillard 
says  in  his  work  the  Spirit  of  Terrorism,  observing 
that  hegemony  is,  at  least,  universally  distrusted 
and,  at  worst,  loathed.  What,  then,  allows  a 
confrontation  with  hegemony?  Baudrillard  posits 
that  only  singularities,  individualized  cultural 
situations,  can  threaten  this  definitive  power. 
Competing  hegemonic  regimes  cant  —  they  will 
ultimately  be  consumed  dialectically  by  merely 
following  their  hegemonic  impulse  to  join  in  the 
creation  of  a  broader  universal  order  September 
11th  and  our  ongoing  war  on  terror  is  not,  then 
"...a  'clash  of  civilizations',  but  (a)  confrontation 
between  undifferentiated  universal  culture  and 
everything  which... retains  something  of  an 
irreducible  alterity."  Islam,  in  this  reading,  is  "merely 
a  moving  front"  where  opposition  to  hegemony  can 
find  temporary  shelter.  It  is  singulahties,  defending 
themselves  against  hegemony,  that  perpetrated 
the  9/11  attacks  and  it  is  against  them  that 
hegemony  now  defends  itself 

The  Spirit  of  Terrorism  is  Baudrillard's 
consideration  of  the  2001  attacks  on  the  World 
Trade  Center,  this  conflict's  most  famous 
battleground.  Early  in  the  first  of  the  four  essays 
compiled  here  is  the  following  declaration: 
"Terrohsm  is  immoral.  (A)nd  it  is  a  response  to  a 
globalization  which  is  itself  immoral.  So  let  us  be 
immoral,  if  we  want  to  have  some  understanding  of 
this..."  He  further  urges  us,  before  considering  this 
event,  to  "try  to  get  beyond  the  moral  imperative 
of  unconditioned  respect  for  human  life"  and  give 
credence  to  the  decision  to  put  other  values  before 
human  life  —  things  like  justice,  freedom,  and  the 
dignity  of  others.  In  order  to  address  9/11,  we 
must  realize  that  the  enemies  of  hegemony  are 
driven,  not  by  a  "hatred  bred  of  deprivation  and 
exploitation,  but  (by)  humiliation."  The  architects  of 
the  9/11  attacks  were  not  the  poor  and  desperate, 
they  were  educated  and  relatively  affluent.  Their 
motivations  can't  be  understood  with  the  same 
tools  used  to  understand  the  Intifada,  for  example. 
This  is  a  new  terronsm,  a  terronsm  of  living  room 
televisions  more  than  of  body  counts,  of  "death  in 
real-time  —  'live'... This  is  the  spirit  of  terrorism" 
in  evidence  in  the  9/11  attacks  according  to 
Baudrillard. 


The  goals  of  this  new  terronsm  are  not  new 
Like  many  terrorist  strategies,  these  new  terrorists 
aim  to  disrupt  the  system.  What  distinguishes  this 
terror  is  tactical.  "As  soon  as  they  combine  all 
the  modern  resources  available  to  them  with  this 
highly  symbolic  weapon,  everything  changes." 
The  weapon  in  question  is  the  terronsts'  own 
deaths.  These  tactics  reflect  a  competence  at 
using  hegemony's  own  weapons  and  a  profound 
understanding  of  the  symbolism  and  utility  of  a 
willingness  to  die. 

Baudrillard's  analysis  of  the  American 
response  to  this  new  landscape  follows  and 
is  not,  primarily,  a  discussion  of  the  wars  in 
Afghanistan  and  Iraq.  It  focuses  rather  on  the 
emotional  response  to  9/1 1's  symbolic  and  very 
public  attack.  The  most  notable  visceral  response, 
on  Baudrillard's  view,  is  the  "Amencan  people's 
immense  compassion  for  itself  —  with  star- 
spangled  banners,  commemorative  messages, 
the  cult  of  victims. .."etc.  This  attack  vindicates  all 
that  came  before.  America,  to  Baudrillard,  is  given 
"the  right  to  be  the  best... from  now  on,  Americans 
are  victims."  We  are  learning  the  hard  way  what 
humiliation  feels  like,  a  day-to-day  cultural  fact  of 
life  for  much  of  the  Third  World.  "The  worst  thing 
for  global  power  is  not  to  be  attacked  or  destroyed, 
but  humiliated,"  Baudrillard  offers. 

Tragically,  since  the  attacks,  America  has 
faced  a  "challenge  (that)  can  be  taken  up  only 
by  humiliating  the  other  in  return."  This  desire  for 
humiliation  has  led  us  to  wars  in  Afghanistan  and 
Iraq  and,  more  troublingly,  we  find  that  "freedom  is 
already  fading  from  minds  and  mores,  and  liberal 
globalization  is  coming  about  in  precisely  the 
opposite  form  —  a  police  state  globalization." 
-Keith  McCrea 

[The  Journal  of  Aesthetics  &  Protest] 

Marc  &  Robby  Herbst,  et.  al  Editors 
www.journalofaestheticsandprotest.org 

This,  my  first  Journal,  proves  that  no  subject  is  too 
erudite  or  too  specific  for  indy  media  to  address. 
Our  intrepid  editors  tear  it  up  on  a  variety  of 
subjects  and  never  leave  you  feeling  as  if  your 
intelligence  has  been  doubted  Corey  Dickey's 
excellent  discussion  of  Japanese  playwright 
and  author  Yukio  Mishima  more  than  covers  the 
six  buck  cover  price.  Dickey  powerfully  reminds 
us  that  the  anti-modernisms  that  inform  post- 
modernism, whether  in  the  aesthetics  of  Mishima 
or  the  philosophy  of  Heidegger,  remain  indigestible 
medicine  —  a  clump  in  throat  of  any  critique 
of  mercenary  liberal  capitalism.  Other  subjects 
include  the  role  of  beauty  in  revolution  and  the 
difficulty  of  maintaining  truly  open  art  spaces  and 
communities  for  practicing  artists.  Really  a  great 
zine. 
-Keith  McCrea 


[The  No-Nonsense 
Guide  to  World  Poverty] 

Jeremy  Seabrook 

New  Internationalist  /  Verso.  2003 

www.versobooks.com/www.newint.org 

When  I  first  saw  the  title  to  this  book  I  was  tumed 
off  because  it  sounded  like  an  embarrassingly 
insulting  Fodor's  travel  guide.  Fortunately  it  ain't. 
It's  a  beautifully  written  and  infonmation  filled 
indictment  on  the  ideology  of  Capitalism  world- 
wide and  the  myths  it  perpetuates.  Some  of  those 
myths,  that  poverty  can  be  cured  through  charity, 
"development."  or  more  capitalism,  or  that  mari<et 
culture  and  free  trade'  create  more  jobs  in  the  third 
worid,  are  tom  apart  and  dispelled  by  Seabrook. 
Not  only  in  a  manner  that  is  backed  up  with  hard 
facts,  but  with  a  language  that,  while  describing  a 
world  filled  with  exploitation  and  manipulation,  is 
also  direct  and  poetic.  The  different  indictments  on 
the  post-Cold  War  poverty  that  grips  most  of  the 
population  of  this  planet,  is  chopped  up  into  bite- 
sized  pieces  that  make  the  subject  easy  to  digest. 
This  book  (and  all  the  books  in  the  No-Nonserise 
Guide  series)  is  pocket-sized  and  only  130  pages. 
But  in  those  short  130  pages  Seabrook  manages 
to  show  both  the  personal  affects  of  poverty  of 
individuals  around  the  worid  thnj  short  biographies, 
and  also  show  how  the  West  systematically  creates 
this  situation  to  our  own  benefit  and  the  rest  of  the 
worid's  detnment. 

Through  six  chapters,  Seabrook  tries  to  dispel 
how  those  who  create  poverty,  the  West,  define 
what  it  is  through  the  use  of  facts  and  statistics, 
and  how  they  are  presented  to  us.  For  example, 
one  statistic  says  that  12  billion  people  exist  on 
less  than  a  dollar  a  day  but  what  it  doesn't  say  is 
that  many  of  those  people  are  making  less  than  a 
dollar  a  day  because  they  exist  through  barter,  and 
are  not  part  of  the  global  economy  where  people 
work  for  wages.  Seabrook  contends  that  one  of  the 
goals  of  international  capitalism  and  colonialism  is 
make  the  inhabitants  of  the  worid  part  of  a  global 
economy  controlled  by  the  West,  where  "third 
worid"  nations  are  to  be  used  as  Producers  for  us, 
the  Consumers.  Most  of  us  are  led  to  believe  that 
poverty  is  something  that  is  the  fault  of  the  people 
that  are  its  victims,  or  an  unfortunate  circumstance 
resulting  from  ones  sun-ounding  environment  (such 
as  starvation)  But.  in  reality,  it  is  more  than  likely 
created  from  outside  sources  Seabrook  points 
to  a  culture  of  Colonialism  and  Impenalism  that 
is  endemic  in  the  West.  We  live  in  a  culture  that 
survives  off  of  the  poverty  we  inflict  on  the  rest  of 
the  worid.  As  the  author  states,  'colonialism  was  not 
an  event,  it  was  a  process  and  it  continues  today" 

The  No-Nonsense  Guide  to  World  Poverty 
is  excellent  not  only  as  a  pnmer  on  poverty  for 
those  who  are  ignorant  about  it.  but  also  provides 
more  ammunition  for  those  well  versed  in  the 
subject  matter  (Another  excellent  book  on  this 
subject  that  I  highly  recommend  is  The  Lords  of 
Poverty:  Power  Prestige,  and  Convption  of  the 
International  Aid  Business  by  Graham  Hancock.) 
-SKOT! 


For  Your  Coffee  Table 


Brian  Bergen-Aurand 


Women  by  Women: 
Erotic  Photography 
Edited   by   Peter   Delius 
and  Jacek  Slaski 
Introduction  by 
Sophie  Hack  and 
Stephanie  Kuhnen 
(Prestei,  2003) 

This  is  an  aggressive  inves- 
tigation. It  centers  female 
pliotograpliers  to  ask  how 
the  female  lens  alters  the 
erotic.  It  also  centers  the  re- 
lation between  the  subject, 
artist,  and  spectator  to  ask 
how  women  photographers 

challenge  these  boundahes.  After  a  long  history  of  men  looking  at  wom- 
en, this  book  asks  how  women  look  at  women. 

Included  are  images  by  internationally  recognized  female  pho- 
tographers Eve  Arnold,  Sylvia  Plachy,  Lillian  Bassman,  former  model 
turned  photographer  Ellen  von  Unwerth,  and  Ellen  Auerbach.  So  small 
a  sample  would  provoke  long  conversations  about  women  photograph- 
ing women  in  an  erotic  light.  Among  these  women,  though,  is  an  out- 
standing collection  of  newer  lenses  presenting  the  female  form  from 
multiple  angles. 

Katrina  Webb's  black  and  white  bed-play  is  a  ticklish  and  athletic 
jaunt  between  the  curve  of  a  calf  muscle  and  a  lampshade  on  a  wom- 
an's head.  Lucia  Ferrario  hides  her  model's  face  behind  jet-black  hair 
a  contrast  against  pale  skin  and  white  sheets.  Freckles,  blemishes,  the 
slight  black  lines  of  cleavage  and  the  gap  between  front  teeth  press 
against  the  frame  in  Melissa  Ulto's  close-up  work. 

Ivana  Ford's  woman  in  the  doorway  is  the  most  seductive  of  the 
collection.  A  yellow  spotlight  on  a  black  dress,  hair,  and  background, 
and  an  eyebrow  raised  enough  to  rhyme  with  the  curl  of  a  bang  take 
hold.  In  contrast,  Dianora  Niccolini's  giant  body  against  a  cityscape, 
r^ooning  the  neighbors  from  a  rooftop,  is  spiritedly  defiant,  comical,  and 
even  slightly  intimidating.  Merging  with  their  black  background.  Nana 
Watanabe's  cartographies  of  the  body  verge  on  abstraction. 

Most  exciting  of  all  are  Enka  Langley's  collaborations.  Her  beauti- 
ful, bold,  unabashed,  and  interactive  approach  to  women  and  their  bod- 
ies refreshes  old  ideas  of  what  happens  between  a  photographer  and 
her  model.  Seeing  her  in  the  frame  with  her  models  blurs  the  assumed 
boundaries  and  interrupts  the  standardized  hierarchy.  I  wish  there  were 
more  of  her  here. 


Love  and  Lust 

By  Donna  Ferrato 
(Aperture,  2004) 

How  do  we  keep  love  and  lust 
alive?  This  is  the  question  behind 
Donna  Ferrate's  follow  up  to  her 
acclaimed  documentation  of  do- 
mestic violence,  Living  With  the 
Er7emy  (1991).  In  her  latest  collec- 
tion, Ferrato  photographs  people 
engaging  with  multiple  partners, 
highly  charged  sexual  personas, 
or  more  traditional  relationships 
to  show  how  love  and  lust  are 
intimately  connected.  Restnctive 
morality  is  her  target,  and,  as  she 


says,  1  offer  these  images  as  another  way  to  think  about  how  to  live  in 
the  spirit  of  both  love  and  passion  —  in  all  their  tantalizing  varieties." 

Her  lens  focuses  on  the  normalcy  of  all  these  activities.  Playing 
a  dominatrix  is  as  normal  as  kissing  a  camel  at  the  zoo  or  tugging  on 
your  sister's  braids.  Dawn  hugging  her  dying  great-grandmother,  Mark 
and  Steve  lazing  in  bed  with  their  poodle,  and  a  woman  emerging  from 
the  "car  wash"  at  the  Lifestyles  swingers  convention  share  a  common 
ground.  Annie  Sprinkle's  "tittle  chapeau"  fits  as  well  as  Patrick  Buck- 
lew's  "mangina"  or  a  traditional  white  wedding  dress.  An  older  couple 
holds  hands,  two  elephants  nuzzle,  one  woman  takes  four  partners, 
and  no  one  seems  hurt,  manipulated,  or  objectified.  In  these  photo- 
graphs, people  hold  hands,  eat  breakfast  together,  suck  on  and  spank 
one  another,  lie  in  the  grass  together,  climax  together  or  alone,  and 
march  side-by-side  for  women's  rights.  Ail  the  while,  the  emphasis  is  on 
honesty,  love,  lust,  and  respect. 

Ferrato's  images  challenge  monocular  visions  of  relationships  as 
she  repeatedly  asks  why  we  can't  have  more  than  we  do.  Cultivating  a 
healthy  lust  "is  central  to  a  healthy  and  vigorous  pshyche,"  she  says.  Per- 
haps that's  the  most  important  point  of  all. 


Male  Bodies 

A  PHOTOCtAPHIC  HISTOIV  Of  THf  NUM 


Male  Bodies: 
A  Photographic 
History  of  the  Nude 
By  Emmanuel  Cooper 
(Prestei,  2004) 

When  it  comes  to  the  history 
of  the  male  nude,  Emmanuel 
Cooper  wrote  the  book,  liter- 
ally From  his  first  study  of  the 
male  nude.  Fully  Exposed: 
The  Male  Nude  in  Photog- 
raphy (1990),  Cooper  has 
immersed  his  readers  and 
viewers  in  the  sexual  politics 
of  representation.  An  art  and 
photography    historian    and 

regular  conthbutor  to  major  gay  periodicals.  Cooper  bhngs  his  formi- 
dable historical  knowledge  to  bear  on  this  chronological  collection  of  50 
provocative  photographers  to  ask:  How  have  images  of  the  male  body 
been  used? 

Since  1839,  images  of  the  male  body  have  documented  physical 
perfection,  medical  ailment,  anatomical  study  portrait  modeling,  athletic 
prowess,  erotic  pursuit,  gay  iconography  and  the  effects  of  HIV/AIDS.  Coo- 
per brings  these  images  together  against  the  backdrop  of  their  cultures  to 
show  us  the  multiple  histories  of  the  male  nude.  Strikingly  he  argues,  how 
cultures  continue  to  play  hide  and  seek  with  images  of  the  penis  speaks 
loudest  about  when  the  male  nude  is  the  most  transgressive. 

Some  of  the  most  canonical  photographers  are  here;  Eakins. 
Muybridge,  Sandow,  Weston,  Cunningham,  White,  Warhol,  Leibovitz 
and  my  personal  favorite.  Nan  Goldin.  Their  presence  reminds  us  of 
a  crucial  photographic  trajectory.  In  addition  to  these  touch  points, 
the  collection  also  includes  some  outstanding  entries  on  Will  McBride, 
Duane  Michals,  Robin  Shaw,  Tony  Butcher,  and  Jonathan  Webb. 

With  each  of  these  male  and  female  photographers,  we  gain  an- 
other view  of  the  less  studied  history  of  the  male  nude  and  a  new  point 
of  departure.  In  bringing  these  studies  fonward.  Cooper  asks  us  to  con- 
template why  the  male  nude  is  so  important  right  now.  He  says,  "This  is 
an  appropriate  moment  to  look  at  the  new  wave  of  photography  of  the 
male  nude  within  its  historical  context,  and  how  this  reflects  and  com- 
ments on  the  times  in  which  we  live."  What  we  see  and  what  we  don't 
see  tells  us  a  lot  about  ourselves. 


...  a  welcome  entry 

into  the  arena  of  teen 

media  that  very  well 

may,  given  time  and  a 

few  more  pages,  give 

the  media  its  much 

needed  kick. 


o 
o 
rsj 


O 


[Rebel  Lives:  Sacco  and  Vanzetti] 

John  Davis,  ed. 

[Rebel  Lives:  Louise  Michel] 

Nic  Maclellan,  ed. 
Ocean  Books,  2004 
www.oceanbooks.au 

Ocean  Books'  Rebel  Lives  series  is  an  accessible 
introduction  to  the  lives  of  men  and  women  whose 
actions  had  a  profound  influence  in  the  radical 
movements  of  their  times.  Some,  like  Chris 
Hani,  Haydee  Santamaria,  and  Louis  Michel,  are 
unfamiliar  to  most  of  us.  Others,  like  Albert  Einstein 
and  Helen  Keller  (reviewed  in  Clamor.  Jan/Feb 
2004)  are  well-known,  but  their  radicalism  has  been 
left  out  of  conventional  histories.  The  books  begin 
with  a  short  introduction  to  the  topic,  followed  by 
excerpts  of  primary  and  secondary  sources  including 
writings  by  the  subject,  their  contemporaries,  and 
works  by  later  histonans  on  the  subject.  The  editing 
is  excellent.  Selections  are  short  and  vaned.  Each 
chapter  has  an  introduction  explaining  the  relevance 
of  the  texts  included.  The  books  are  easy  to  read, 
even  with  no  prior  knowledge  of  the  subject.  I  had 
done  pnor  research  on  Sacco  and  Vanzetti,  so  their 
story  was  familiar  to  me,  but  Louise  Michel  I  had 
never  heard  of.  In  either  case  I  found  the  books  to 
be  interesting  and  informative. 

Louise  Michel  was  a  leader  of  the  Paris 
Commune  of  1871.  Though  short-lived  (it  only 
lasted  two  months)  the  Commune  served  as  an 
inspiration  for  later  revolutionary  movements. 
Michel  was  the  head  of  the  Women's  Vigilance 
Committee,  but  also  a  part  of  the  men's  committee. 
She  fought  with  the  men  and  during  her  trials 
refused  to  have  a  lesser  sentence  than  her 
comrades  due  to  her  sex  and  proved  an  inspiration 
to  Emma  Goldman,  whose  story  of  their  first 
meeting  is  included  Also  included  is  a  poem  about 
her  by  Victor  Hugo,  and  wntings  on  the  Commune 
by  Marx,  Engles,  Bakunin.  Kropotkin  and  Lenin. 
Michel's  story  is  inspinng  in  her  complete  devotion 
to  the  revolution.  As  Emma  Goldman  wrote,  Louise 
Michel  stood  out  sublime  in  her  love  for  humanity, 
grand  in  her  zeal  and  courage 

The  book  on  Sacco  and  Vanzetti  is  more 
interesting  due  to  its  relevance  in  today's 
political  climate  Nicola  Sacco  and  Bartolomeo 
Vanzetti  were  arrested  in  1920  for  the  murder 
of  two  men  dunng  a  payroll  robbery.  They  were 
wrongly  convicted  and  sentenced  to  death,  and 


were  executed  in  1927.  The  men  were  convicted 
because  they  were  immigrants,  the  lowest  caste 
of  society  And  even  worse,  they  were  anarchists. 
The  evidence  against  them  was  flimsy  and  the  trial 
was  a  mockery  of  objectivity.  The  judge  in  charge 
of  their  sentencing  was  quoted  as  saying  "Did  you 
see  what  I  did  to  those  anarchist  bastards  the 
other  day?  That  will  hold  them  for  awhile." 

The  book  includes  writings  by  both  Sacco 
and  Vanzetti,  Eugene  Debs,  Upton  Sinclair,  H,G. 
Wells,  Emma  Goldman  and  Howard  Zinn.  During 
the  appeals  of  the  case  there  was  an  international 
movement  in  support  of  the  two  men.  People  gave 
what  little  money  they  had  to  the  defense  fund. 
There  were  protests  around  the  world.  And  still 
the  men  were  executed.  Sacco  and  Vanzetti  were 
considered  terrorists  and  were  convicted  due  to 
their  ethnicity  and  political  beliefs.  It  is  a  story  that 
should  be  remembered  in  this  climate  of  fear  in  our 
country  today. 
-Heather  Mayer 

[Serpents  In  The  Garden: 
Liaisons  with  Culture  and  Sex] 

Alexander  Cockburn  and  Jeffrey  St,  Clair 
CounterPunch/AK  Press 
www.akpress.com/www.counterpunch.org 

Serpents  In  The  Garden  is  a  new  book  by  the 
editors  of  CounterPunch.  If  you  are  familiar  with 
the  reporting  and  good  old  muckraking  found  in 
CounterPunch  you  will  have  an  idea  of  what  to 
expect  from  this  collection  of  essays.  The  subtitle 
claims  the  essays  in  this  book  are  liaisons  with 
culture  and  sex  ,  but  that  is  hardly  an  adequate 
description  of  the  breadth  of  essays  contained 
in  this  book.  There  are  four  main  sections  in  the 
book  covenng  culture  in  general,  music,  art  and 
architecture,  and  sex,  as  well  as  a  smaller  section 
on  the  topic  of  death.  The  essays  are  wntten  by 
several  different  authors,  some  taking  a  step  back 
and  looking  at  their  topics  from  the  outside,  and 
others  speaking  very  much  from  within  their  given 
topic.  The  essays  are  human,  filled  with  humor, 
honesty,  at  times  biting,  and  all  very  well  written. 
For  a  book  covenng  the  range  of  topics,  it's  a  very 
satisfying  read. 

Some  of  the  topics  taken  to  task  in  this  book 
include:  the  ecological  fetishism  of  Julia  Butterfly 
Hill,  the  unabashed  fascism  of  Salvador  Dali.  and 
an  in-depth  essay  on  the  red  and  green  history  of 
Mayday,  and  Suge  Knight  and  the  story  of  Death 
Row  Records,  as  well  as  a  very  thoughtful  and 
insightful  look  at  the  paintings  of  Lucian  Freud 
—  this  is  only  the  tip  of  the  iceberg  There  is  also 
a  wonderful  personal  story  of  being  on  the  line  in 
Detroit,  and  great  wnting  on  the  death  of  Edward 
Said  by  Alexander  Cockburn.  Also  included  by 
way  of  an  introduction  is  a  list  of  what  the  editors 
consider  to  be  great  books  of  the  twentieth  century 
in  English  as  well  as  in  translation. 

I  read  this  book  straight  through  for  this 
review  and  there  was  never  a  dull  moment,  1 
learned  and  was  exposed  to  the  history  of  some 
musicians  I  had  never  read  about  before  or  was 


only  passingly  familiar  with,  as  well  as  more  in- 
depth  looks  at  topics  I  was  already  very  familiar 
with.  I  can  see  that  this  book  would  also  lend  itself 
well  to  being  read  in  parts,  to  being  picked  up  and 
put  down  as  the  mood  strikes  you.  With  the  wealth 
of  topics  it  can  also  be  used  a  great  resource,  or 
can  be  read  for  pure  enjoyment.  Pick  one  up,  flip 
through  it,  read  an  essay  that  catches  your  eye 
—  I'm  sure  you  will  agree. 
-Brandon  Bauer 

[Shameless  Magazine  #1] 
www.shamelessmag.com 

The  summer  issue  of  Shameless  doubles  as 
its  premiere  issue,  pointing  the  way  to  what  will 
hopefully  be  a  long  and  bright  future  for  this  much 
needed  magazine.  Vanously  subtitled  as  being  "an 
independent  magazine  for  strong,  smart,  sassy 
giris  for  giris  who  get  it,"  Shameless  sets  out  to.  in 
the  words  of  co-editors  Melinda  Mattos  and  Nicole 
Cohen,  "give  teen  media  a  senous  kick  in  the 
ass."  Rather  than  simply  reproducing  the  largely 
false  and  trite  characteristics  of  teenage  girts 
peddled  in  other  rags  (you  know  who  you  are), 
Shameless  aims  to.  as  per  its  name,  offer  a  more 
realistic  approach  that  sidesteps  the  foundational 
shame  of  the  previously  mentioned  offenders. 
The  point  here  is  a  combination  of  inclusiveness 
and  a  pointed  evasion  of  artifice,  both  noble  goals 
but  difficult  to  achieve,  much  less  in  a  first  issue. 
However,  where  others  have  failed.  Shameless 
succeeds  admirably. 

Though  1  can't  speak  for  the  highlighted 
audience,  being  neither  strong,  sassy,  nor  a  girt. 
Shameless  has  much  to  offer  readers  within  and 
outside  its  focus.  Anchoring  this  first  issue  are  a 
diverse  group  of  articles  that  make  up  in  interest 
what  they  lack  in  length:  perhaps  the  only  real 
problem  plaguing  this  offenng  is  just  that,  articles 
that  while  tackling  important  topics  in  interesting 
ways,  stop  all  too  soon.  From  Martin  Saraiva  we 
get,  in  the  section  "Women  on  the  Job,"  an  insightful 
examination  of  the  benefits  and  problems  awaiting 
women  working  as  sound  engineers/house 
technicians:  from  Anna  Leventhal,  a  look  into 
the  still  largely  male-dominated  and  misogynistic 
worid  of  community  radio  and  its  role  as  a  venue  of 
self-expression  in  "Making  Airwaves."  These  and 
many  more  like-minded  articles  fill  the  48  pages  of 
Shameless,  as  well  as  a  handful  of  one-page  wnte- 
ups  concerning  such  diverse  topics  as  advice  upon 
discovenng  your  dad's  pom  stash,  a  narrative  of 
vegan  survival  with  a  nifty  hummus  recipe  to  boot. 
and  altematives  to  tampons  for  those  with  medical, 
environmental,  or  other  objections  Something  for 
everyone  to  say  the  least,  and  to  say  more,  well, 
here  goes. 

1  could  hardly  imagine  a  teenage  girl  reading 
this  premiere  issue  of  Shameless  and  treating  it  as 
less  than  an  epiphany,  bamng  a  kind  of  woridliness 
unavailable  to  most  at  that  age  There  is  certainly 
enough  helpful,  informative,  and  at  times  troubling 
information  in  these  pages  to  galvanize  even  the 
most  apathetic  of  teenage  girls,  much  less  the 


various  and  sundry  others  who  may  come  upon 
the  magazine.  Though  the  stated  demographic 
may  be  very  specific,  the  audience  that  could 
stand  to  read  Shameless  is  large,  making  it  a 
welcome  entry  into  the  arena  of  teen  media  that 
very  well  may,  given  time  and  a  few  more  pages, 
give  the  media  its  much  needed  kick. 
-Isaac  Vayo 

[Terrorists  or  Freedom  Fighters] 

Edited  by  Steven  Best,  PhD  and 
Anthony  J.  Nocella  II 
Lantern  Books,  2004 
www.lanternbooks.com 

Terrorists  or  Freedom  Fighters  takes  a 
comprehensive  and  exhaustive  look  at  the  inner 
workings,  tactics,  ethics,  organization  and  history  of 
the  Animal  Liberation  Front.  In  the  foreword.  Ward 
Churchill  sets  the  stage  for  readers  to  examine 
the  methods  and  belief  system  of  the  ALF,  a  non- 
hierarchical  organization  of  autonomous  groups 
and  individuals  bound  together  by  a  simple  set  of 
guidelines  for  the  protection  and  equal  rights  of 
all  animals.  Churchill  draws  correlations  between 
the  significance  of  the  ALF's  struggle  for  an  end 
to  the  subjugation  of  animals  and  the  great  battles 
fought  against  apartheid,  Nazi  genocide,  and 
Jim  Crow  laws,  while  analyzing  the  effectiveness 
of  direct  action  resistance  as  opposed  to  more 
passive  protest.  The  numerous  writers  who  have 
contributed  essays,  for  the  most  part,  seem  to 
view  the  actions  of  the  ALF  as  imperative  steps 
to  combat  the  genocidal  mentalities  that  allow 
humans  to  exert  their  believed  supremacy  over 
animals.  The  book  is  an  impressive  and  extensive 
primer  to  those  outside  and  inside  animal  rights 
communities  for  understanding  the  motivations 
of  actions  that  many  consider  extreme  —  even 
terrorist.  An  underlying  theme  of  the  book  and  the 
ALF  on  the  whole  is  a  re-evaluation  of  the  inherent 
specieism  that  allows  humans  to  justify  animal 
abuses  such  as  livestock  factory  farming,  lab 
testing,  and  fur  farming. 

A  quote  in  the  ALF  primer  (reprinted  in  the 
book)  says,  "When  you  see  the  pictures  of  a 
masked  liberator,  stop  asking  who's  behind  the 
mask  and  look  in  the  mirror."  Certainly  these 
founders  were  the  ancestors  of  the  anarcho-punks 
and  black  block  protestors  of  new  millennium 
direct  activism.  Dr.  Maxwell  Schnurer  points  out 
in  his  essay  "At  the  Gates  of  Hell:  The  ALF  and 
the  Legacy  of  Holocaust  Resistance,"  that  these 
were  pages  the  ALF  took  from  the  books  of  Jewish 
activists  who  fought  against  Nazis  in  the  Third 
Reich.  And  these  were  tactics  of  the  suffragettes 
fighting  for  women's  hghts  in  the  early  twentieth 
century,  notes  Dr.  Mark  Bernstein  in  his  essay 
"Legitimizing  Liberation." 

Any  successful  movement  should  initiate 
self-reflection  and  Dr.  Judith  Barad  looks  at 
anger  and  its  link  to  the  motivations  for  animal 
liberation  acts  in  her  essay  "Aquinas'  Account  of 
Anger."  Should  the  activist  achieve  pleasure  from 
fighting  for  animal  lives?  The  subtlety  between 


retribution  as  impersonal,  implying  fairness  versus 
revenge,  being  personal,  involving  bias,  is  defined 
by  revenge  being  rooted  in  feelings  of  anger  and 
its  ability  to  imbue  zeal  and  righteousness  when 
vindicated.  Barad  looks  at  the  causes  of  anger, 
the  quandary  of  its  power  and  the  dangers  of  its 
excess. 

Read  either  front  to  back  or  independently 
by  essay.  Terrorists  or  Freedom  Fighters  is  a 
powerful  compilation  of  essays  that  demands 
readers  to  question  the  important  issues  of  animal 
exploitation  and  how  each  of  us  plays  into  this 
systematic  oppression.  Best  and  Nocella  have 
compiled  an  essential  reader  for  both  the  animal 
rights  newcomer  and  the  seasoned  activist. 
-Michael  Wilcock 


[AUDIO] 


[85  Decibel  Monks] 

Tack-Fu  Presents  the  Production  Team 
Tack-Fu  Productions 
www.tackfu.com 

Iowa  City  doesn't  possess  the  most  illustrious 
history  in  regards  to  hip-hop.  But,  it's  kinda  like 
Howard  Dean  being  harangued  for  not  having 
more  black  folks  on  his  staff  in  Vermont.  But  some 
white  folks,  most  likely  sporting  a  delightful  ac- 
cent of  some  variety,  have  come  through  with  a 
pretty  damned  quality  hip-hop  album.  The  master 
of  the  production  is  Tack-Fu,  accompanied  by  his 
team  of  ruffians  (The  Chaircrusher,  Hartless  and 
drumk).  The  fact  that  DJ  Vadim,  Manchild,  lllogic 
and  Blueprint  appear  on  this  release  solidifies  that 
fact  that  there  is  talent  behind  the  boards  in  the 
mighty  land  of  Iowa:  those  folks  aren't  collaborat- 
ing outta  pity.  The  first  track,  "Enter  Dependents," 
sports  Mars  ill.  The  viola  drone,  hand  drums  and 
echo-laden  snare  hit  make  the  track  float,  while 
it's  being  ridden  by  average  raps.  Tack  Fu  spends 
time  with  the  sounds  he  uses  so  he  oftentimes 
feels  whether  or  not  an  emcee  or  a  vocal  sample 
is  needed.  More  frequently  than  not  he  figures 
correctly.  "Oh  Yeah,"  featuhng  DJ  Skwint,  comes 
off  without  any  vocal  accompaniment  as  does 
"Interlude  in  E-Minor."  Occasionally,  he  figures 
wrong  ("Mr.  World").  A  tune  by  drumk,  however, 
is  the  highlight  of  the  instrumental  numbers.  His 
"Mongolian  Fire"  best  uses  the  eastern  theme 
that  is  visited  on  this  album  a  few  times.  A  couple 

of  electo-glitch  tracks  ("Hot  Water  for  Tea Key 

Player")  get  stowed  away  on  here  as  well,  show- 
casing the  collective's  ability  to  leave  the  compla- 
cency of  most  hip-hop  and  try  somethin'  new.  So 
friends,  in  closing,  simply  contribute  to  our  national 
pastime  of  buying  stuff  and  buy  this.  Go. 
-Dave  Cantor 


[Brightback] 

Ala.Cali.Tucky 
galaxia,  2003 
galaxia-platform.com 

This  2003  release  was  written  and  recorded  while 
Brightblack  members  were  homeless  and  camping 
out  in  rural  places,  including  the  three  states  which 
make  up  the  album  name.  The  result  of  so  much 
time  under  the  big  bright  black  sky  with  stars  and 
wind  as  inspiration  is  a  deliciously  comforting, 
spacious,  warm  and  breathy  album.  Sighing  their 
way  through  these  slow,  rhythmic  jewels,  Nathan 
Shineywater  and  Rachael  Hughes  weave  an 
almost  gospel-like  web  that  settles  on  you  like 
the  night  sky.  The  simple  lyrics  don't  attempt  to 
dig  too  deeply;  instead  they  whisper  of  summer 
nights,  of  wandering  with  no  compass  for  direction 
and  that  feeling  that  comes  with  being  alone  but 
not  lonely.  Besides  the  gorgeous  shimmering 
male  and  female  vocals,  all  washed  out  in  steel 
pedal  guitar  and  backed  up  by  rich  piano  chords, 
the  entire  album  is  drenched  in  heavy  reverb, 
almost  smothehng  you  with  that  southern  comfort. 
Occasional  tambourine  punctuates  these  slow  and 
captivating  songs,  which  are  even  complete  with 
cricket  chirps!  Ala.Cali.Tucky  was  produced  by 
Paul  Oldham,  brother  of  the  prolific  troubadour/ 
songwriter  Bonnie  Prince  Biliy  (Will  Oldham).  In 
fact,  Brightblack  recently  toured  the  Midwest  and 
Texas  with  Bonnie  Prince  Billy,  and  their  songs 
were  even  more  hypnotic  and  alluring  at  the  live 
show  than  on  the  album.  Be  careful,  this  album 
can  suck  you  under  and  hold  you  there  —  you  may 
even  be  tempted  to  sell  your  possessions  and  go 
a-wanderin'.  It  makes  you  wish  for  nothing  more 
than  a  night  sky  overhead  and  a  whiskey  bottle 
by  your  side. 
-Emily  Sloan 

[Bullet  Teeth] 

Drive  Yourself  to  the  Hospital  cdr 
bulletteethmusic@hotmail.com 

Man,  why  doesn't  everyone  live  around  Toledo? 
Fuck  'em,  it's  their  mistake  and  Bullet  Teeth  is  but 
one  example  of  why  I  love  living  in  the  419.  A  deft 
melding  of  old-fashioned  DIY  punk,  post-American 
TapesAA/olf  Eyes  noise,  and  late  '80s  Touch  &  Go 
pigfuck,  Bullet  Teeth  tear  shit  up  in  a  big,  messy, 
noisy  way.  The  songwriting  is  focused,  the  band 
uses  the  (limited)  musical  tools  at  their  disposal 
to  the  max,  and  the  production  is  remorselessly 
asskicking.  Contact  'em,  buy  their  shit,  book  a 
show  for  them,  and  stand  the  fuck  back.  If  this  fails 
to  kick  your  ass,  you  probably  have  no  business 
reading  Clamor  m  the  first  fucking  place. 
-Keith  McCrea 


Iowa  City  doesn't  possess  the  most  illustrious  history  in  regards  to 

hip-hop.  But,  it's  kinda  like  Howard  Dean  being  harangued 

for  not  having  more  black  folks  on  his  staff  in  Vermont. 


o 
o 


o 
o 


^4 


[Coyote  Shivers] 

Gives  It  To  Ya  Twice 
Foodchain  Records.  2004 
www.foodchainrecords.com 

There  will  be  sluts  and  drugs  and  fags  and  rock- 
n-roll ...  should  be  fun  ..."  Coyote  Shivers  belts  out 
the  first  line  of  his  latest  album  with  such  hope 
and  excitement  that  convinces  the  listener  that  it 
"should  be  fun,"  and  it  is.  As  once  a  guitar  player 
for  The  Conspiracy  (the  band  who  went  down  in 
rock  history  as  the  first  non-Soviet  band  signed 
to  the  Soviet  run  record  label  MELODIYA),  this 
Ramones  inspired  rocker  "Gives  it  to  ya  Twice," 
with  his  double  disc  album.  The  first  disc  entitled 
"One  Sick  Pup"  includes  energy  and  punk  infused 
songs  such  as  "Just  Be  Fnends"  where  he 
explains,  "I've  got  what  you  want  and  you've  got 
what  I  want." 

The  Toronto  native  once  said  he  knew  he 
wanted  to  be  in  a  rock  band  the  first  time  he  saw 
the  Ramones  live.  Rock  is  exactly  what  he  does 
for  those  of  us  who  can  never  get  enough  of  that 
New  York  punk  influenced  sound.  This  album  is 
absolutely  a  treat  for  the  ears  and  mind. 

Although  a  lot  more  mellow,  the  second  disc 
entitled  "From  My  Bedroom  to  Yours"  does  not 
disappoint.  Beginning  with  a  slow  acoustic  version 
of  "Sugar  High"  (from  the  movie  Empire  Records), 
this  part  of  the  album  goes  on  to  songs  like  "She 
Won't  Fuck  Me"  about  his  girl  loosing  him  to  the 
girl  next  door.  After  enjoying  this  album,  I  would 
recommend  keeping  an  eye  out  for  more  Coyote 
Shivers  in  the  near  future. 
-Ashley  Cressoine 

[Old  Time  Relijun] 

Lost  Light 
K  Records 
www.krecs.com 

Old  Time  Relijun  from  Olympia,  WA.  continue  to 
mesmerize  with  a  trademark  sound  that  is  honed 
by  extensive  touring,  and  they  make  me  move 
every  time  I've  caught  them  live.  This  generally 
takes  place  in  someone's  low-hung,  dangerously 
cramped  basement  with  lots  of  eccentric  types, 
generally  in  an  undulating  sweaty  mass  situation. 
The  Old  Time  Relijun  really  have  a  way  with 
their  audience.  Definitely  loud  and  cacophonic, 
often  experimental  but  then  super-catchy,  with 
an  accomplished  rhythm  duo  on  upright  bass 
and  sthpped  down  drums  that  really  carnes  it  all, 
and  a  mad  preacher  of  Bacchanalian-rock  getting 
all  spiritual  on  the  mic,  guitar,  and  clannet.  With 
songs  guaranteed  chock-full  of  birth,  blood,  water, 
monsters,  copulation,  alchemy,  mythology,  and 
sometimes  even  throat-singing!  And  I  believe 
this  album,  the  third  full-length,  to  be  their  most 
accessible  and  movement  inducing  release  to 
date.  This  album  features  a  weird,  cyclical  birth 
to  death/rebirth  theme  and  favorites  include 
"Vampire  Victim"  (the  new  Monster  Mash).  "Cold 
Water"  (w/  catchy  sing-a-long),  and  "The  Rising 
Water,  The  Blinding  Light"  (trance-swamp  rocker!). 


Old  Time  Relijun  remain  a  unique  transcendental 
experience  that  you'll  probably  enjoy,  if  you're  so 
inclined,  in  somebody's  basement.  Awesome!  Get 
your  freaky  dance  party  on. 
-vigilance 


[Sandman] 

The  Long  Walk  Home 
Cnmethinc,  2004  • 
wwwcnmethinc.com  - 


v»A/vw.rappincowboy.com 


Sandman  is  the  uber-prolific  leading  contemporary 
cowboy  poet  of  now.  He's  also  Montana's  very 
own  rappin'  cowboy  whose  hardly  ever  at  home 
in  Olympia  because  he's  always  touring  like  mad. 
With  several  releases  on  his  own  label.  L-ONE- 
R  Records  and  various  others  scattered  about 
from  a  handful  of  other  small,  underground  labels, 
he  is  hustling  non-stop.  The  Long  Walk  Home 
showcases  his  characteristic  acoustic  crooner 
style,  with  an  accapella,  some  whistling,  a  tiny 
smattenng  of  hip-hop,  and  even  a  touching  sing- 
a-long  for  good  measure.  But,  you  know,  mostly 
this  record  is  all  "sad  cowboy  with  acoustic  guitar" 
songs.  Favontes  were  the  opening  accapella, 
"The  Cowboy's  Life  is  a  Very  Dreary  Life"  and  the 
closing  ode  to  MLK,  "Folk  Legend,"  followed  by 
a  short  but  sweet  hidden  track.  Sandman's  style 
and  delivery  can  wobble  from  sincere  to  tongue- 
and-cheek,  and  sometimes  its  hard  to  know  just 
where  he's  at.  And  that's  ok.  He  can  bust  a  mad 
freestyle  like  it  ain't  no  thing  and  then  turn  around 
and  yodel  like  he's  home  on  the  freakin'  range  A 
working  class  hero  for  the  people.  Sandman  talks 
the  talk  with  his  music  and  walks  the  walk  with  this 
release  on  Cnmethinc  —  a  fitting  destination  and 
proper  pairing  for  one  rabble-rousing  drifter  and 
a  collective  anarcho-clearinghouse.  Undeniably 
enigmatic  and  ironically  iconoclastic,  he's 
threatened  to  get  more  serious  with  his  song- 
writing,  so  I  would  recommend  picking  up  his  most 
recent  self-released  A  Year  In  the  Life  of  Slippery 
Goodstuff  while  it  lasts  —  especially  if  you're 
looking  for  a  thematic  recording  of  full-length 
Sandman  in  unfettered  dirty  hip-hop  mode. 
-vigilance 

[Saul  Williams] 

s/t 

Fader  Label 

wwwthefader.com 

Saul  Williams  isn't  content  to  stick  to  any 
prescribed  formula  —  this  is  not  purely  a  hip- 
hop  album,  it's  not  solely  a  spoken  word  album 
either  but  there  are  elements  of  both  on  this 
disk.  William's  sums  it  up  in  his  own  words:  "The 
tracks  range  from  politics  to  relationships  and  the 
politics  of  relationships  What  I  ended  up  with  was 
something  that  captured  the  authoritative  cool  of 
hip-hop,  the  playful  angst  of  rock  and  roll,  the  raw 
torment  of  emo  (and,  my  favorite,  screamo  ),  and 
the  fuck  offness  of  punk." 

There  are  beautiful  moments  on  this  disk 
—  hard  hitting  moments,  slamming  beats,  insights, 


"You  know,  we  just 

drop  the  shit  out 

and  let  the  music 

stand  for  itself." 


and  truths  spoken  and  delivered.  There  is  also  a 
great  sample  of  a  classic  Bad  Brains  riff  on  the 
track  "Telegram  where  Saul's  voice  sounds  very 
reminiscent  of  HRs.  . 

The  song  directly  after  "Act  III,  Scene  2  I 
(Shakespeare)'  titled  "Reparations  ..(for  an 
unrequited  love)"  more  than  makes  up  for  the 
previous  track,  and  is  one  of  my  favorite  tracks  on 
the  album.  Another  stand  out  is  the  song  "Afncan 
Student  Movement"  which  is  very  minimal  and 
subdued,  combining  a  synthesis  of  industrial  beats 
and  acapella  vocals  that  really  grounds  the  track 
in  a  powerful  way.  This  track  hits  hard  through  its 
restraint  and  precisely  because  of  it. 

I  was  surprised  by  some  of  what  he  was 
doing  in  this  album  upon  the  first  listen.  This  album 
gets  a  hold  of  you  initially,  but  I  think  it  really  gets 
better  the  more  you  listen  to  it.  After  the  first  few 
listens  the  music  starts  sinking  in  and  becomes 
more  nuanced  All  of  the  tracks  on  this  album  are 
delivered  with  passion  and  force  Even  when  the 
lyrics  are  spoken  softly  passion  and  urgency  hangs  - 
off  of  every  word.  It  is  refreshing  to  hear  an  artist  B 
taking  these  kinds  of  risks.  The  press  sheet  says 
that  most  of  the  songs  were  expenments  Saul  was 
worthing  on  before  crafting  it  into  an  album,  and  it 
retains  that  experimental  feeling.  It  is  very  fresh  in 
its  experimentation  and  has  come  together  as  a 
solid  album-  check  it  out. 
-Brandon  Bauer 

[Semiofficial]  " 

The  Anti-Album 

Rhymesayers 

vww.rhymesayers.com 


Semi. Official  stands  tall  as  a  tnje  representation  of 
the  culture  and  the  movement  of  underground  hip- 
hop.  The  debut  of  mastermind  collaboration.  The 
Anti-Album,  was  most  definitely  the  hottest  record  I 
heard  in  2003.  And  the  best  thing  about  it.  is  that  it 
will  never  burn  me  out.  Its  that  solid.  And  tmthfully. 
I  feel  bad  for  any  so-called  head  that  has  not  yet 
heard  it.  A  project  that  has  been  in  the  works 
since  late  '99  but  didn't  drop  until  Sept  '03.  Semi 
Official  remained  a  stnctly  subterranean  word  of 
mouth  release  with  no  publicity.  It  features  all-lhe- 
way-innovative  production  by  DJ  Abilities,  who 
weaves  outrageous  sample  interiudes  throughout 
the  joint  while  dropping  well-crafted  beats  with 
perfection.  Combined  with  the  master  lyncism  of 
veteran  translator  and  project  conceptualist.  I  Self 
Devine,  whose  always  on  point  with  his  delivery 
and  content,  the  Semiofficial  word  is  borne. 
Behold  another  dope  release  on  Rhymesayers 
Entertainment  (MNPLSi)  Sick  tracks  like  the 
mind-boggling  "Semi  Official?"  intro,  the  visceral 


"Songs  in  the  Key  of  Tryfe"  (feat.  MF  Doom),  the 
funk  of  "Systems  Goe,"  "Hit  the  Deck"  (feat.  Budah 
Tye),  the  power  of  "Crime"  (with  a  12"  single 
that  devastates!),  the  serious  mover  "Get  Up." 
and  "Wishing  for  a  Miracle"  (feat.  Gene  Poole), 
Especially  fond  of  "Transitions,"  with  its  message 
that,  yeah,  we're  all  going  to  die  so  get  your 
thoughts  in  order  and  focus  on  how  you're  going 
to  live.  And  the  graffiti  whter's  joint,  "Nocturnal 
Terrorist  Squad,"  is  a  well-constructed  musical 
triptych.  While  discussing  the  album  recently  with 
I  Self  Devine,  he  sums  up  the  underground  nature 
of  the  project  by  saying,  "I  personally  think  Semi, 
Official's  gonna  be  a  cult.  It's  gonna  be  something 
that'll  sell  slow  like  a  steady  stream.  Because 
everybody  that  hears  it  and  marinates  with  it,  they 
really  love  it.  You  know,  we  just  drop  the  shit  out 
and  let  the  music  stand  for  itself." 
-vigilance 

[The  Six  Parts  Seven] 

Everywhere  and  Right  Here 
Suicide  Squeeze  Records,  2004 
www.suicidesqueeze.net 

The  cover  of  this  latest  release  from  the  Six  Parts 
Seven  depicts  a  snake  weaving  through  a  formation 
of  giraffes,  a  fitting  visual  for  an  album  dominated 
by  some  of  the  most  restrained  serpentine  guitar 
work  since,  well,  Television  maybe.  A  headphone 
album  to  say  the  least.  Everywhere  and  Right 
Here  recalls  nothing  more  than  Apollo-era  Brian 
Eno  in  its  wistful  use  of  lap  steel,  creating  stark 
tumbleweed  dreamscapes  delivered  straight  from 
the  honzon.  The  aforementioned  guitar  work, 
along  with  the  lap  steel  and  judicious  washes 
from  the  vibes  —  all  soaked  in  an  ample  amount 
of  reverb  —  combine  in  tranquil  songs  that  come 
and  go  without  demanding  much  more  from  the 
listene'  than  an  open  ear  and  a  relaxed  posture, 
since  anything  but  is  an  impossibility  in  light  of 
the  calm  it  produces.  Previous  tours  with  TV  on 
the  Radio  and  shows  with  Shannon  Wright  and 
the  Unicorns  seem  perfectly  natural  given  the  Six 
Parts  Seven's  sound,  and  their  aim  of  providing 
fresh  sonic  additions  to  the  independent  rock 
canon.  Maybe  the  perfect  moment  on  this  disc 
is  the  guitar  coda  to  "Already  Elsewhere,"  where 
everything  drops  away  but  the  shimmehng  lead 
and  a  touch  of  vibes.  Beautiful,  Elevator  music  it 
may  be,  but  it's  the  coolest  elevator  ever. 
-Isaac  Vayo 

[Thee  Snuff  Project] 

Dyin  Ain't  Much  of  a  Livin 
Hackshop  Records,  2004 
wwwhackshoprecords.com 

If  you  turned  down  the  volume  on  your  stereo  to 
Thee  Snuff  Project  will  still  make  blood  spurt  from 
your  ears.  Scott  Taylor  has  one  mode  of  singing 
and  it's  called  attack.  The  whole  album  is  just 
unrelenting.  From  the  guitar  drone  on  the  longest 
intro  ever,  "Intro  to  Every  Black  Window,"  to  the 
vaned  tempos  on  "Start  Your  Own  Cult,"  the  rage 
doesn't  let  up.  I  don't  know  if  these  kids  were 


beaten  just  phor  to  the  recording  and  this  is  how 
they  got  out  the  aggression,  but  this  disc  doesn't 
lack  energy.  It  also  doesn't  hoard  talent,  but  it's  a 
trade  off.  Pretty  much  the  groove  that's  reached 
amidst  the  crunch  of  every  track  is  minimalist. 
And  while  I  enjoy  everything  simple  from  Kraut 
Rock  to  Steven  Reich,  the  reliance  on  the  wah- 
wah  peddle  ("Little  Strange,"  "Random  Deity")  is 
a  little  disturbing.  Fortunately,  the  tempo  changes 
on  "Next  Time  I'll  Be  a  Spider"  hints  at  the  practice 
that  theses  DC  natives  have  put  into  their  craft. 
The  track  sounds  like  Sabbath  listening  to  The 
Who  while  trying  to  cover  a  Stooges  song.  The 
Stooges  connection  ain't  done  yet  either.  Thee 
Snuff  Project,  when  they  keep  the  tracks  short,  are 
effective.  And  even  though  I  don't  think  that  they're 
gonna  become  millionaires,  they  should  at  least 
make  gas  and  beer/liquor  money  wherever  they 
go  for  a  decade  or  so. 
-Dave  Cantor 

[Who's  America?] 

URB  Magazine  presents  a  compilation  by 
System  Recordings  &  Definitive  Jux 
viAA/w.definitivejux.net 

This  is  a  no-brainer.  A  well-done,  collaborative  CD 
compilation  that  dropped  in  Sept  04  containing 
ten  tracks  of  alternating  electronic  and  hip-hop 
music  from  innovators  in  each  genre.  Their 
mission  is  simple:  Draw  attention  to  the  upcoming 
presidential  election  with  this  CD,  which  is  an 
attempt  to  raise  money  and  awareness  to  get- 
out-the-vote  and  toss  the  Bush  junta  out  on  its 
proverbial  elephant  ear.  Plus  this  is  a  non-profit 
endeavor  with  proceeds  going  to  The  League  of 
Pissed  Off  Voters  and  Music  for  America  to  further 
those  causes.  All  the  tracks  contributed  to  this 
release  are  solid  hitters  and  most  are  exclusive 
to  the  compilation.  To  name  a  few,  Mr.  Lif  tells 
it  like  it  is  on  two  tracks,  one  solo  ("Home  of  the 
Brave"  remix)  and  one  with  Akrobatik  as  The 
Perceptionists  ("Memorial  Day"),  and  Camutao 
shows  off  his  crooning  skills  in  Central  Services  w/ 
El-P  on  "I  Work  For  the  Government  Now."  Really, 
it's  all  good  music  for  a  good  cause,  what  more  do 
you  need?  Props  to  URB,  System  Recordings,  & 
Definitive  Jux  for  doing  the  right  thing  and  leading 
the  charge.  Let's  all  make  it  happen  on  election 
day  (Nov  2nd!!)  and  exercise  our  right  for  a  taste 
of  democracy  in  action. 
-wg//ance 

[VIDEO/DVD] 

[The  Miami  Model  DVD] 

FTAA  IMC  Video  Working  Group 
viAww.ftaaimc.org 

The  Miami  Model  is  an  Indymedia  production  that 
focuses  on  the  events  surrounding  the  FTAA  (Free 
Trade  Area  of  the  Americas)  talks  held  in  Miami, 
Florida  in  November  of  2003.  A  diverse  coalition  of 
groups  including  Union  members,  students,  human 


rights  activists,  environmentalists,  and  anarchists 
converged  on  Miami  to  protest  these  talks. 

"The  Miami  Model"  as  it  came  to  be  known 
describes  the  actions  taken  by  the  city  of  Miami 
to  control  and  contain  the  demonstrators.  To  the 
organizers  of  the  trade  talks  the  Miami  Model 
was  an  overwhelming  success  and  is  a  model  to 
be  replicated  around  the  country  in  cities  faced 
with  demonstrations  this  scale.  This  documentary 
clearly  shows  the  anti-democratic  tactics  taken 
and  the  police  state  atmosphere  that  the  Miami 
Police  Department  cultivated. 

The  Miami  Model  begins  with  a  very 
informative  segment  about  police  brutality  in  the 
city  and  about  the  Overtown  neighborhood,  a 
predominately  African-American  and  Haitian  area 
of  Miami.  It  also  shows  the  hype  and  fear  that 
was  created  by  the  corporate  media  about  violent 
anarchists  who  were  coming  to  Miami  to  protest 
the  FTAA.  This  demonizing  of  demonstrators  led 
the  Miami  City  Council  to  pass  a  law  banning 
assemblies  of  more  than  seven  people  without  a 
permit.  Intimidation  of  activists  and  harassment 
soon  followed  in  the  days  and  week  leading  up  to 
the  protests.  By  the  time  the  protests  began  they 
were  met  by  a  highly  militarized  and  overwhelming 
police  presence. 

The  Miami  police  attempted  to  divide  the 
protesters  and  break  up  their  marches  by  using 
every  means  at  their  disposal  —  pepper  spray, 
rubber  bullets,  pushing  into  the  protesters'  lines 
and  provoking  the  demonstrators.  In  some  cases 
the  police  forced  the  protestors  out  of  the  streets 
but  offered  them  no  escape  route  and  no  where  to 
go  as  they  came  down  on  them  with  their  batons. 
Protest  footage  from  the  front  lines  shows  the 
police  causing  situations,  not  simply  reacting  to 
them.  The  city  looks  as  if  it  is  under  siege  by  walls 
of  black  clad  riot  police. 

The  documentary  does  a  good  job  of  showing 
how  the  corporate  media  is  far  from  being  unbiased 
in  their  coverage  of  the  talks.  Major  media  outlets 
were  embedded  with  the  police  in  the  same  way 
journalists  have  been  embedded  with  soldiers  in 
Iraq.  Corporate  media  outlets  were  reporting  solely 
from  the  police  perspective,  making  any  claims  to 
objective  journalism  a  farce.  Journalists  who  chose 
not  to  be  embedded  faced  the  same  heavy-handed 
police  response  that  the  protestors  faced. 

It  is  documentaries  like  this  that  make 
Indymedia  so  important.  The  video  activists  who 
contributed  the  footage  and  those  who  edited  the 
final  documentary  should  be  lauded  for  giving  us 
an  honest  on-the-ground  account  of  the  protests 
and  the  police  tactics  used.  I  am  sure  we  will 
increasingly  see  this  type  of  militarization  of  our 
police  and  the  disinformation  through  the  corporate 
media  of  opposing  points  of  view. 

If  you  are  interested  in  screening  this 
documentary  as  a  joint  benefit  you  are  encouraged 
to  contact  the  FTAA  IMC  Video  Working  Group  to  set 
up  a  screening  —  ftaaimc.org.  Proceeds  from  the 
benefits  will  go  to  the  production  of  this  documentary 
on  DVD  and  to  various  other  projects. 
-Brandon  Bauer 


o 
o 

■«< 

W 


Community  in  the  Jails 


n  Palmer 


Peter  Holderness 


o 
o 


The  protest  actions  against  the  Republican  National  Convention  in 
New  York  City  between  August  27  and  September  2.  2004,  were 
centered  around  creating  and  promoting  community.  Events  includ- 
ed bicycle  rides,  vigils,  music,  plays,  film  screenings,  die-ins.  panty 
flashes,  and  other  non-violent  forms  of  culture  and  counter-culture. 
And,  while  there  was  a  good  deal  of  (justified)  anger  at  the  unwel- 
come take-over  of  our  city  by  the  anti-intellectual,  anti-art,  anti-First 
Amendment  GOP,  the  city  and  the  thousands  of  visiting  protesters 
vowed  they  would  eke  life,  art,  and  solidarity  out  of  this  exploit. 

The  Bush  Administration,  aided  by  New  York  Mayor  Mi- 
chael Bloomberg  and  Police  Commissioner  Ray  Kelly,  as  well 
as  a  willing  army  in  blue  working  serious  overtime  for  the 
event  did  their  best  to  curtail  those  freedoms  as  much  as  pos- 
sible during  that  week,  which  began  just  before  the  RNC. 
By  Tuesday,  August  31  (dubbed  A3 1  by  organizers),  several 
friends  of  mine  had  been  arrested  and  spent  time  in  the  now-infamous 
Pier  57,  where  inany  were  held  after  arrest.  They  had  told  us  about 
filthy  former  bus  depot,  about  bicycles  confiscated  by  the  N^■P1),  but 
also  about  a  high  degree  of  solidarity  and  organization  within  the  cells. 
A3 1  was  lo  be  a  day  of  massive  civil  disobedience  and  non-violent 
direct  action  across  the  city,  and  the  NYPD  had  been  preparing  during 
the  weeks  prior  to  arrest  huge  numbers  on  that  day. 

And.  sure  enough,  people  were  arrested  in  large  groups,  ihc  po- 
lice einploying  orange  nets  lo  close  ofl" entire  blocks.  I  met  people  ar- 
rested at  a  vigil  and  march  between  Ground  Zero  in  Lower  Manhattan 
and  Madison  Square  Garden,  at  a  die-in  on  25th  Street,  at  a  .street  party 
on  16th  Street  near  Union  Square  led  by  marching  bands,  in  front  of 
the  main  New  York  Public  Library  at  42nd  Street  and  5th  Avenue,  and 
elsewhere.  We  descended  that  evening  upon  Pier  57  with  fire  in  our 


hearts  and  a  collective  energy  about  the  week  drawn  from  the  size  of 
the  actions  and  the  peacefulness  of  most  gatherings.  And.  of  course, 
there  was  an  inevitable  sense  of  shock  at  the  NYPDs  seeming  eager- 
ness to  arrest  as  many  as  possible  —  dare  I  say  it  —  precmpti\el>. 

In  the  holding  pens  and  jails,  as  in  the  streets,  the  police  had  %an- 
ous  community-breaking  tactics  that  they  employed  repeatedly.  One 
that  was  used  in  the  pens  at  Pier  57  and  in  the  holding  cells  at  Central 
Booking  was  to  constantly  be  mi.xing  up  the  groups  of  people  in  hopes 
of  destroying  solidarity  and  making  it  ditficult  to  organi/e. 

Perhaps,  though,  this  technique  backfired  in  that  messages  were 
spread  more  easily  among  everybody,  and  we  got  to  know  the  faces 
and  stories  of  a  great  many  of  our  fellow  detainees.  It  didn't  hurt  that 
we  did  not  change  clothes  so  we  seemed  to  become  cartoon  characters 
of  ourscKes.  dressed  the  same  tor  the  entire  period  of  detention — al- 
ways identifiable,  just  getting  filthier. 

Strong  solidarity  came  from  without  as  well.  In  the  dark  and  quiet 
of  our  second  night.  I  was  in  an  8-  by  10  1  2- foot  cell  with  10  other 
young  women.  Our  small  cell  faced  a  high  w  indow  across  the  hall  from 
which  we  could  hear  the  streets  erupting  below  with  the  cheers  and 
screams  of  the  hundreds  of  people  family,  friends,  lawyers,  acti\ists 
—  outside  the  courts  trying  to  get  us  free.  And  this  gave  us  strength.  So 
we  all  began  to  talk  more  slow  ly.  quietls.  and  freeK  than  before.  .Vnd  in 
this  small  cell  w a\  up  on  the  1 2th  floor  of  1 00  Centre  Street,  we  \ ow ed 
as  did  the  hundreds  of  other  men  and  women  in  other  cells  through- 
out the  building  and  the  city  we  would  try  to  let  the  world  know  that 
these  tactics  of  preempti\e  arrest,  these  favors  lo  George  Bush,  will 
not  be  tolerated  in  our  cities  Not  to  young  educated  Americans,  not  to 
illegal  immigrants,  not  to  middle-aged  dissidents,  "it 


something  else  for  you  to  do  during  work  ... 

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